Rating: 
Summary: A feast for eyes and ears
Review: A truly superb movie. Funny, memorable, and a feast for the eyes and ears (the soundtrack CD is a definite keeper as well). Clooney carried the movie wonderfully, and his two sidekicks were remarkable as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Greater than any other Clooney movie
Review: Buy this movie its a mix of fantasy and reality! And if you buy you will also want the great soundtrack a must-see for anyone who wants a moive to change their look on the world.
Rating:
Summary: "I reckon we haven't seen the last of old George"
Review: This was by far the best movie I saw this year. In addition to its musical, comedic, and acting merits, I wanted to point out its literary merits, which are slightly underneath the surface but are there nonetheless if you are looking for them. This movie is not merely an adaptation of The Odyssey, it is a very viable literary interpretation of it. Bringing out Ulysses' vanity, self-reliance, and persuasuve ability as well as Penelope's stubbornness and fickle nature, which this film does beautifully, have been important in all interpretations of the classical poem. Satire of the work is also not lost on the Coens. Ulysses is transformed from the sacker of Troy to a fraudulent lawyer, his athletic prowess turns into him getting beaten up by a weakly looking suitor, and even the authors' use of the name Homer is intended and appropriately satiric. (for a full-of-himself politician who looks out for "the little man") For those who think that this is indeed merely a loose adaptation and that the events and persons of the Odyssey are not put into this movie, I would contend that they are very much mistaken. Without giving anything away, I would challenge viewers to find the Coens' interpretation of all of the following characters from the poem (the first few are easy): Odysseus, Penelope, the Sirens, the Cyclops, Circe (and her turning of Ulysses' men into animals), the Cattle of the Sun, King Alcinous of Phaecia, the angry god Poseidon (who here is also the ruler of Hades), the ghosts of Hades, the Lotus Eaters, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, Alcinous' blind bard Demodocus, Eurylochus (Ulysses' unfaithful first-mate), Elpenor (his man who he meets in Hades), Telemachus, and Eumaeus the swineherd, Tiresias (the blind seer of Hades), the suitors Eurymachus and Antinous, and finally the representations of the monstrous Scylla and the water guzzling Charybdis. They are all there. I'm not making them up. Watch the movie again if you have to. Good luck and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: love those soggybottom boys....
Review: I guess this movie is supposed to be some kind of modern day Homer's Oddessey. I never read it, but I've heard that it's a bit similar, but not completely like it. It stars George Clooney who really surprised me in this movie! I am not much of a fan, and I thought he was very good as the prisoner who breaks loose from a chain gang. He's kind of the one is charge, and the two men he drags along don't want him to be the one who's boss. One is played by John Turtorro, and well, honestly I have no idea who the other actor is, but he is very good and extremely funny in this movie They are all on the lam together, and as Clooney is trying to get back to his wife and family the thre of them have adventures -- not all good ones. They even start a singing career as the Soggy Bottom Boys. All the songs are old folk and blue grass songs, and the actors lip synch. I really thought it was Clooney singing the first time I saw this! The singing and dancing really brings great delight to this very sunny little movie. It kind of reminded me of The Wizard of Oz in that way. There is even one scene where they view KKK members marching around while hiding behind a bush. They eventually manage to get three of the members and steal their uniforms to save a man from being killed...In the wizard of Oz, the three friends of Dorothy watch the henchmen for the witch march around and eventually steal uniforms from three of the men. There is even similar chanting in O Brother... I don't want to give anything else away, but JOhn Goodman plays one of the many people they meet along their journey, and Stephen Root, who is a very funny character actor(the boss on Newsradio) plays a blind dj, who made me howl with laughter. Holly Hunter is in it as Clooney's estranged wife Penelope. The best thing I really loved about this movie is the music. I bought the soundtrack the next day, and it is awesome. If you are fan of folk and bluegrass, you'll absolutely love this soundtrack. It's a very funny film that is well acted and beautifully filmed. The Coen "brothers" have made another excellent film. I also love the way the film is made to look like it is an old movie, with the coloring that is used. It really adds to it. I highly recommend this one..IT's defintely worth buying.
Rating: 
Summary: ???? was this?
Review: I really wanted to like this movie, but.....I thought it was meaningless and boring. Maybe that was the attraction...movies like this allow people to feel smart! I felt like the Coens were testing my "coolness" factor! The peripheral characters were there for what reason? To take up time? Must have been, because they had absolutely no impact or relationship to the action of the movie. Their presence was totally random. I thought that the entire film made fun of the South and Southerners (and no, I am not one). And what was the point of the cow being hit by a car? That was cruel and thoughtless. Did they think it was funny? The sepia cinematography was gorgeous. That is the best thing I can say about this movie. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: Coens Make Another Absolutely Wonderful Film!
Review: I've got to take back an earlier assessment of mine that George Clooney can't act. He does a wonderful acting job in this movie and no one could have been more suprised than I was to discover him as an actor. Clooney forms a trio, along with John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, of fugitives from a chain gang in Depression era Mississippi. This is the ultimate road movie with characters throughout that could have only come from the Coens' incredible imaginations. Real life is even interspered throughout with the trio catching a ride, for example, with "Baby Face Nelson," the notorious manic-depressive bank robber. Ulysses Everett McGill is the name of Clooney's slick con man character and this is because this story is a retelling of the "Odyssey" via the Coen brothers. Homer and the Coens together are a delightful combination, much more enjoyable than my reading of the source work back in high school. The soundtrack of music from this era is fabulous too. Our trio can even sing and makes a impressive debut as the "Soggy Bottom Boys." There are so many great scenes in this film that I could go on and on but I'll just highlight a few. There is a Klu Klux Klan rally musical number that is only rivaled by "Springtime For Hitler" in "The Producers." It is a superb music and dance number of the proposed lynching of a black man! Then there is the biblical flood that looms over all but in this case is the creation of the TVA dam. The Coens manage to make creation of the TVA into high comic film art, no small feat. The trio also runs into the Sirens, just like happens in the epic poem. In this case they are three damsels washing in the river and singing who beguile the trio. From this encounter flows the comic wonder of Tim Blake Nelson over his belief that the sirens may have transformed Turturro into a frog. This is a must see film for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: The Star ot the Film is . . . T-Bone Burnett
Review: This is the first film I can remember that starred the musical arranger. While there are many very, very good things in this film it is dominated by its soundtrack, and well after seeing the movie, after you have forgotten the characters and what they said, you will vividly remember the music. Burnett also was the musical director for THE BIG LEBOWSKI, and I was tremendoulsy impressed in that one with his musical selections, especially the hysterical Spanish language version of "Hotel California." But Burnett outdid himself in O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU? All of the songs were newly recorded for the film, but each one felt as if it had stepped right out of the 1920s or 1930s, when they were all written. Every single one of the songs was memorably and magnificently performed, in particular the great traditional song "Man of Constant Sorrows," whose unexpected success on the radio plays a major role in the movie's plot. (Sidenote: anyone who loved the version of "Man of Constant Sorrows" in this film owes it to themselves to search out a CD with the Stanley Brothers performing this song. Ralph Stanly in fact performed one of the songs in the move: the eerie "Oh Death" performed at the KKK ralley. The Stanley Brothers consisted of Ralph and his slightly older brother Carter. As good as Ralph is, Carter Stanley, who unfortunately died in 1966, had almost without question the greatest voice in the history of Bluegrass. And absolutely no one ever sang "Man of Constant Sorrows" better than Carter Stanley. Whereas Ralph possesses a fine voice that is somewhere between a low tenor and a high baritone, Carter possessed a high, brilliant, piercing tenor that is one of the glories of American folk music.) The music alone makes this a great movie. Without it, the movie would have lost a lot of its cohesion and texture. I am a huge fan of the Coen Brothers, but if you take away the music, this film would probably rate as their weakest film yet with the exception of THE HUDSUCKER PROXY. The film on its own doesn't quite cohere at every moment, and there are some moments that are just flat out weak. But as a whole, the movie has a tremendous period feel and a wealth of great minor characters. I thought George Clooney excelled as an escaped convict with a penchant for Dapper Dan hair pomade and sentences that make him sound considerably smarter than he is. So, my recommendation is twofold: first, see and enjoy the movie. Second, run out and buy the soundtrack! This movie just might have the best movie soundtrack to have come out in several years.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Brother!
Review: Having seen clips of this film I had to rent it as soon as it came out on DVD. Sadly I was disappointed. The acting was great - I didn't know George Clooney could look so unattractive(!) - but the storyline was thin and slow moving. My greatest memory of the film was the song 'I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow' - both performances (although lip-synched) are gems and about the funniest parts of the whole film.
Rating:
Summary: Personally, I really didn't like this movie.
Review: Maybe I don't like it because I was forced to see it. Then again, I rented out of free will and I still hated it. One of my friends fell asleep during the movie because it was so boring. The best parts were the parts with the Soggy Bottom Boys and the credits. Now that you have my opinion I hope you might just think a little more about buying this movie, unless you really, really like it. Remember: rent before you buy, unless you saw it in theaters. Also, just because you're friends like it dosn't mean you'll like it.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVE this movie!
Review: I saw it at Tinker Street Cinema in beautiful Woodstock, NY, in early Summer so the setting was just right and may have influenced my opinion... But I loved this movie so much! It's absolutely hilarious from the very first scene to the last. The characters are unique and memorable, the story moves at a great pace... I can't imagine anyone not having a good time watching this movie. Not at all what I expected. Don't miss it!
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