Rating: 
Summary: GREEEEEEEEEAT
Review: This movie in my eyes parallels the best movies in all times. From the characters, to the time and plot. This movie is perfect in all aspects. Watching this movie and reading The Odyssey fit together as well as Pink Floyd and The Wizard of Oz. To Coen Brothers have produced yet another piece of exquist art with O Brother, Where Art Thou?, taking a book and reproducing it in a "modern" time that many people can relate to. Having these characters go through more realistic hardships instead of mythological beasts and hardships. In my opinion, O Brother is a most excellent film....I give it 5 Stars.
Rating:
Summary: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
Review: I LOVE THIS MOVIE! EVERYTHING IS PERFECT FROM THE DUMB CHARACTERS TO THE BEAUTIFUL SOUNDTRACK! A GREAT STORY AND OVERALL, A WONDERFUL ADDITION TO YOUR MOVIE COLLECTION! BUY IT NOW PLEASE.
Rating:
Summary: A few comments
Review: This might be the funniest and wackiest Cohn bros. film I've seen yet. I even enjoyed the Blue Grass sound track, although I'm more of a pop, classical, and jazz kind of guy. But the music was great, too, and it really added to the overall ambience of the movie.Some of the scenes are just classic, such as the Baby Face Nelson gettaway with the cows, the KKK "dance of the sugar plum fairies," (as I call it), the scene with the "river sirens," and the scene at the concert where the Soggy Bottom Boys finally sing their hit song to the entralled crowd, which the guys can't figure out. I recognized the actor who played George Nelson from The Practice TV show but hadn't seen any of his other work before, and I thought his over-the-top portrayal was really amazing considering he plays a stolid, respectable lawyer and very different character in the TV show. I was also amazed at how well George Clooney pulled off the dancing and high-stepping at the concert and political rally. He proved himself to be a pretty competent hoofer in the great tradition of hoofer actors (like Bob Hope, James Cagney, and Gregory Hines, etc., although of a different style). So overall, another very funny, wacky movie from the Cohn bros. that certainly won't disappoint the fans, and with a classic Blue Grass sound track that really fit the movie well.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time or money
Review: Talk about low-brow humor! There were a couple of funny moments and other than that this movie was painfully slow moving and boring even with George Clooney starring!
Rating:
Summary: A musical odyssey in Mississippi
Review: After The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers refined their approach to movie-making. They stuck with the idea of including any idea that was funny and slightly strange, but this time they imposed a plot that made sense. Like Fargo --- which was supposed to be based on a true story but really wasn't --- Oh Brother Where Art Thou is based on the Odyssey (a seemingly true story that they could use when it served them, or dump when it didn't). Then they added the Depression, southern politics, and lots of music. If this had been written and directed by anyone else, it would have been a mess. But with the Coen brothers, it's a musical comedy disguised as a screwball period piece. It helps that the casting is perfect. From the three principal actors to the major secondary characters (like John Goodman's Big Dan Teague/Cyclops) to the smaller parts (like the governor's two dim-bulb campaign managers and the radio station owner) every actor is funny and perfectly in sync with the tone of the film. The Coens added quite a bit of computer effects and all of it works. The obvious example is the color-grading. The short documentary on the DVD shows how computers were used to wash out colors and tint different scenes. Then there are small parts, such as the underwater shot of Dapper Dan cans and a dog floating by. Those cans are computer-generated, and the dog was composited into the shot. You don't notice this stuff until the third or fourth time you see it. Once you notice, it makes the movie even better. This is one of the best Coen brothers movies, and one of the best movies of the last 10 years. The music is so good, you'll be humming every tune the day after you see it. It's very funny and beautifully designed, as well.
Rating:
Summary: An embarrassment of riches
Review: There really is nobody in mainstream American cinema to touch the Coen Brothers. Young aspiring screenwriters must look at most big Hollywood movies and think, Oh gee, I could write better than that so easily. Then they must look at what the Coens write and think, Oh gee, I could never write like that. As screen writers, the C. Bros are giants in a race of pygmies. At the heart of their work are three of the finest films ever made in the United States, made consecutively, "Fargo", "The Big Lebowski" and this. One of the glorious things about these three films is how different they are. "Fargo" is a police procedural and morality tale set in the snowbound backwater of Minnesota, "Big Lebowski" a glorious send up of film noir set in the asinine wilderness of Los Angeles. "Oh Brother" is a musical epic, an enchantment, set in Depression era Mississippi. If the idea here is to signal which movies are not simply worth seeing but specifically worth buying, where a movie worth buying is a movie that will delight not just on a single viewing but repeatedly, on viewing it again and again, all these three movies are eminently worth singling out. I've seen them all several times now and they just get better. Many movies get to be classics because of just one or two scenes that have some peculiar magic. This movie is composed almost entirely of such scenes. In essence it's a comedy and seems to spring from an almost infinite well of comic invention. Here we get George Clooney as Ulysses Everett McGill, the smooth talking "Odysseus" character with his loquacity and vanity, John Goodman as Big Dan Teague, the one-eyed "Cyclops" (with an neat pun on that word's murky second life as a term for a KKK officeholder) bible salesman and thief, Michael Badalucco as George "Baby Face" Nelson the manic depressive cow-hating bank robber, Stephen Root as the strangely manic blind recording engineer and radio station manager in the middle of nowhere, Wayne Duvall as Homer Stokes the KKK-affiliated candidate for governor with his performing midget, Charles Durning as Menelaus "Pappy" O Daniel, the incumbent governor, terrified of losing, Holly Hunter as Mrs "Penelope" McGill who has told her army of children that her fallen ex-husband was run over by a train, Ray McKinnon as her suitor who, inverting the Homeric source, is more than a match for Everett in a bout of fisticuffs, Lee Weaver as the "Tiresias" character, the blind driver of a handcar, and Daniel von Bargen as an avenging angel, the sheriff, who is also at once The Devil and the Greek God Neptune. All the above act like people who never expect to be offered a better-written part and many of them never will. Quite good comic films could be made from one twentieth of the cinematic ideas on display here. The Coens just have such an abundance of them, they toss them off, exult briefly in them, and them move gaily on to the next. If there's one quibble, it might be Pete and Delmar, McGill's companions, who have escaped with him from a chain gang. While Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski" was not merely an idiot but a magnificent, outrageous idiot of Dickensian dimensions, these two, though certainly well enough acted by John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, are much closer to being stock comic characters whose plain unembellished dumbness is intended to render them funny. If "Big Lebowski" is a better comic film, as I think it is, I'd single that out as a reason why. As well as the Coen's, the movie's magnificence owes a large debt to T Bone Burnett who put the music together. It's very much a musical and the soundtrack is pure heaven to listen to, especially those items involving the marvellous singing of Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch. Though if there is one slightly off note here too, it is Ralph Stanley's "O Death" sung by a hooded KKK chief who turns out to be Stokes. Not only is credulity strained in supposing Stokes could have a singing voice remotely like Stanley's but it seems far too cool a song to be found on the lips of so desperately uncool a character. But again now I'm splitting hairs. This is a classy, classy movie and a pure joy to watch.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Converted!
Review: Never heard of Blue Grass before O' Brother...now I just can't get enough of it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Movie EVER!
Review: Best movie ever, in my opinion. I'd give it 6 stars if I could. I'm no fan of George Clooney, but in this movie he was awesome! And don't be fooled by the title- I thought it was a Shakespearean movie, but it's actually set in the Deep South in the 1920s or so. The Coen brothers' screenplay is genius, flawlessly combining elements of Homer's Odyssey and the history of the Deep South (I especially liked "servant of the little man" and "who made the color guard colored?"). The three main characters- Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Turturro- are all very good and extremely different. The movie is full of hilarity from beginning to end, straddling the line between fantasy and reality without ever becoming ludicrous. Half the fun consists of how gross all the characters look/act (but in a funny way), as well as the strange pronunciations (you might want to turn on subtitles in order to understand some of the dialogue). The other half lies in the absolutely brilliant screenplay, filled with unexpected twists and turns at every juncture. Today's comedies are so often full of either cheap, lowbrow gags or overly dark humor. This movie has neither, and furthermore contains a number of wonderful historical and mythical references- glued together by stunning performances from all actors involved. I've watched this movie again and again, and it never loses its charm. Some of the later scenes involving Holly Hunter (as the nasty ex-wife) are not particularly funny and, in my opinion, inferior to the rest of the piece. Nevertheless, this picture is the best comedy I have ever seen. See it now if you haven't already!
Rating: 
Summary: A far fall from "Fargo" for the Coen Brothers...
Review: I haven't seen many of the Coen Brothers' films, although one of the two I have seen is one of my favorites ("Fargo"), and the other I've seen is one I don't care for very much ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?"). One of the films has a lot of humor, the other doesn't. One of the films is extremely entertaining; the other is just sort of boring. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is a retelling of Homer's "Odyssey," or "Homer's Odyssey," since you never see the title without the name preceding it anymore; Homer's name is practically part of the title, now. Am I digressing? It starts with three runaway convicts, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmer (Tim Blake Nelson). Everett - as his chumps call him - has a strange fascination with his own hair, and Dapper Dan hair cream. "I'm a Dapper Dan Man!" he proclaims after being offered another brand of hair cream by a store clerk (who unfortunately doesn't carry Dapper Dan but looks as if he couldn't give a hoot either way). And, in another one of the film's few funny scenes, we see local police picking up a trail on the threesome after a bloodhound finds a tin can of Dapper Dan and a hairnet lying by a diminished fire. The trio has escaped from jail in hopes of finding an ancient treasure not delved into by the film so very much. Along the way they meet an odd assortment of characters, including a black guitarist who sold his soul to Satan so that he could learn to play guitar; a baby-faced criminal trying to make a name for himself; and a bulky thief (John Goodman) who steels what little fortunes the men have achieved by singing on the radio under the combined name of The Soggy Bottom Boys. Along the way they also encounter Everett's wife (Holly Hunter), who claims he was hit by a train, tells her seven children this, and refuses to acknowledge him as her husband. With the law in hot pursuit of them, the boys have only their brains to fall back on - and they don't have much of that available for use. The plot's not the problem with the film (per se). It has fun with itself; the bluegrass music is perfect for the film and makes you feel like you're in Mississippi. The problem is the way the film has a million different ideas going on that it never seems able to make sense of. The film takes spiritual detours that pay off at the end, but nothing is ever truly resolved. In one scene towards the overdue finale, Everett gets down on his knees and prays to God to deliver them from their doom. Suddenly a gigantic tidal wave roars through and demolishes their surroundings, leaving them alive and bobbing on the water's surface. I've read "The Odyssey," but even with all its weirdness in mind I don't remember it being this weird. It's been a while, yes, but I don't remember a giant tidal wave and I certainly don't think it belongs in a feature film with enough wasted ideas. At least "The Odyssey" was weird for a reason - "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" could certainly do without the strangeness. Every time George Clooney is on-screen you'll be having some minimal amount of fun at least, but when he's gone and the film takes its time rooting through some unimportant sub-plots, it gets to be a real bore. It's not even two hours long but it feels like it's three. The plus side? Depression-era Mississippi comes alive, and in some scenes the dry filming makes you thirsty for a glass of cold water. Not only that, but just as in "Fargo," the Coen Brothers are able to make us feel a sort of attachment to the characters - but even with Everett's funny infatuation with hair gel, he's not in the same league as Marge Gunderson, and he never will be. The first time I saw this movie in 2000 (the year of its release), I absolutely hated it. Back then, perhaps I was expecting something too close to "Fargo." Maybe I just wanted something better. So with last night's repeat viewing, I made sure I wasn't expecting anything. I made sure I put away all pretensions. It still didn't impress me. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" does have some good parts, but for being a comedy it certainly doesn't have very many laughs, and for being a lightweight, uplifting drama it seems too caught up in darker ideas that don't need meddling with. And, apart from everything else, it's just plain weird. It's a whole lot different than "Fargo," which might sound good since change is often welcomed from director(s). But whereas M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" was different than "The Sixth Sense" in a delightfully splendid way, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is sort of like George Lucas' latest installments into the extended "Star Wars" series. They may be different, but they're definitely not any better.
Rating:
Summary: O, This is Funny!
Review: Well, if a movie can be made to perfection, this would be it. This movie was recommended to me by my Pastor. As a born-again Chritian I would naturally shy away from a movie that uses the Lord's name in vain, but as my Pastor explained it's just a vehicle to make fun of a "Christian" culture that has the language without the transforming power of the Spirit. I really don't get to watch many films because I just don't trust Hollywood, but this picture seems different to me. While making fun of the Southern "Christian" culture, it seems to say that there is a reality behind the fake. The movie is full of gospel tunes and great music. The acting is funny to the nth degree. The dialogue is funny, funny, funny. I would give this movie 10 stars if I could.
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