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A Serious Man

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A Serious Man (2009)

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Reviews Counted:119

Fresh:101

Rotten:18

Average Rating:7.7/10

Consensus: Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, the Coen brothers deliver what might be their most mature -- if not their best -- film to date.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:20-11-2009

Synopsis: Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality, and Judaism - and intersections thereof - A Serious Man is the new... Imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality, and Judaism - and intersections thereof - A Serious Man is the new film from Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen.

A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Tony Award nominee Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job.

While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person - a mensch - a serious man? --© Focus films [More]

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf, Sari Wagner, Jessica McManus

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Screenwriter: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Producer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Composer: Carter Burwell
Studio: Focus Features

[See More Credits]

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1 - 4 of 5

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Reviews for A Serious Man

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The Coen brothers may just have made their masterpiece with this, their 14th feature and yet another hairpin-bend change of direction, which has been their trademark for their entire career.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
10/30/09
Andrew Pulver
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Impressively directed, hugely enjoyable black comedy from the Coen Brothers, with a superb script and a terrific central performance from Michael Stuhlbarg.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/09
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

...emotionally authentic and genuinely interested in the philosophical questions it raises.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
11/07/09
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A Serious Man somehow manages to be simultaneously incredibly intimate and autobiographical and yet so unrealistic as to verge on science fiction.

Full Review Source: Examiner.com | comment Comment
11/06/09
Adam Lippe
Adam Lippe
Examiner.com

The only thing missing from the film -- which is frequently amusing but too bleak to be consistently laugh-out-loud funny -- is a genuine connection with its audience.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
11/06/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

A Great Film To Make You Think About Religion and Cosmic Forces While Making the Nasty Side of Your Mind Chuckle.

Full Review Source: Film Snobs | comment Comment
11/04/09
Jimmy O
Jimmy O
Film Snobs

Never has a movie packed with so much hostility or existential angst made me smile from start to finish as this one did.

Full Review Source: The Trend | comment Comment
11/04/09
Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver
The Trend

Larry's spiritual crisis doesn't attain its demanded empathy, leaving A Serious Man as a lesser work by great artists.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
11/04/09
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

A profoundly disturbing movie, all the more so because it's so damned hilarious. I think it's a great film; one that is finally worthy of all the hoopla that usually attends the Cohen's movies.

Full Review Source: Windy City Times | comment Comment
11/03/09
Richard Knight
Richard Knight
Windy City Times

Far more relatable than the Coens' recent work, and one cannot watch it without pondering some questions about the meaning of trials and the nature of fate.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment 1 Comment
10/31/09
Alissa Wilkinson
Alissa Wilkinson
Christianity Today

Filmmaking brothers Joel and Ethan Coen explore their Jewish roots in their most personal film to date. You don't have to be Jewish to appreciate the subtle ethnic humor, but it wouldn't hurt.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
10/30/09
Keith Cohen
Keith Cohen
Entertainment Spectrum

The brothers’ deadpan style is hugely effective -- so much so that even if you hate the message you enjoy the messengers.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
10/30/09
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Takes the concept of the self-loathing Jew to an arguably loathsome new level...

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
10/30/09
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

No fan of the Coen Brothers' movies wouldn't miss A Serious Man, but for the uninitiated, this one may be tough sledding.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/30/09
Jam! Movies

Bleak and tedious, it's an ambivalent memoir about Biblical adversity, filled with edgy, alienating angst.

Full Review Source: SSG Syndicate | comment Comment
10/28/09
Susan Granger
Susan Granger
SSG Syndicate

Grappling with massive cosmic mysteries on a deceptively mundane stage, it's a film about the silence of God, seething with profound existential panic... viewed through the hilariously cracked prism of everyday suburban minutiae.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
10/27/09
Sean Burns
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

A Serious Man buckles and cleaves and tugs at the buttons like a badly tailored suit, and really, what better metaphor could there be for the plight of the downtrodden Everyman?

Full Review Source: Canwest News Service | comment Comment
10/27/09
Katherine Monk
Katherine Monk
Canwest News Service

A sumptuous cinematic feast, and kosher to boot!

Full Review Source: BlackFilm.com | comment Comment
10/25/09
Kam Williams
Kam Williams
BlackFilm.com

All the Coens come up with is a movie about bad things happening to limited people.

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment 1 Comment
10/23/09
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun

Joel and Ethan Coen have the ability to sit their audience down in front of a black screen and make them feel comfortable with two very important factors: 1) They will not understand everything that’s going on, and 2) they won’t care.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
10/23/09
Justin Strout
Justin Strout
Orlando Weekly
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for A Serious Man

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