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O Brother, Where Art Thou? Movie Review

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by the Coen brothers and starring George Clooney. This is yet another overly strange movie from these directors.

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“Damn! We’re in a tight spot!“

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After escaping prison, Ulysses, Delmar and Pete embark on a journey to find a hidden treasure. As lawmen pursue them, a new companion and a brush with antisocial elements turn their lives around. Influenced by Homer’s Odyssey and somewhat by Preston Sturges’ classic ‘Sullivan’s Travels’, the movie is set in the thirties and it tries to emulate the feel of the aforementioned movie, but fails miserably.

Almost none of its elements worked for me. The plot is above all else very uninspired and the movie plays out as many of these Coen movies play out – like a string of disconnected episodes that maybe fun on their own, but as a collection, they are very slight. The movie has no purpose, no message and no major themes to it. It’s overly weird for the sake of being weird and just not an engaging watch at all.

As for the characters, they are all rather annoying. Their dynamic and friendship are fine, but individually speaking, I did not care about any one of them. George Clooney is very good as are John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson who steal the show from everybody else, but good acting couldn’t save the lack of strong characterization.

Where O Brother, Where Art Thou? excels at is in the soundtrack, which is one of the best of the 2000s. I loved every single piece incorporated here as the movie so carefully and meticulously replicated the fun tunes of the early 20^th century that are all iconic and well utilized into the plot. This is by far the main reason to see the film.

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The cinematography is another strong point. The movie was the first one to use color tinting to make it look more autumnal and it paid off as the aesthetic here is very appealing and wonderful. I wish I could say the same for the Coen brothers’ direction, which is expectedly patchy. The audio-visuals weren’t enough to save this movie.