A Serious Man is an almost inexplicable and philosophically dark comedy from the Cohen Brothers. Its protagonist, Larry, is a professor at a quiet university whose wife decides to leave him for one of his more successful colleagues. His unemployed brother moves on to the couch and both of his kids start acting out. He starts a quest for meaning and clarity within his Jewish community. The movie’s aesthetics and comedy will be appreciated by all Cohen Brothers fans. However, the intricacies and struggle of the protagonist will hit home for anyone who has had a religious upbringing: Jewish guilt, and by extension Catholic guilt (or any other religious guilt) are big themes here. An original, weird, hard to understand masterpiece. Other than the prologue, you’ll feel like you have to watch it many times to understand it. The film earned itself many nominations for the Oscars, including Best Picture.
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Got about 50 minutes into this. Not funny. Not dramatic. Not scary. Just boring. If you are pompous, arrogant, and think that pedophile Woody Allen is funny, then you might like small parts of this movie.
Sad attempt at making you feel intellectually superior. Can I have the hours of my life back?
Hank is right. The movie was pointless and a little painful to watch. I was expecting the main character to go postal but he didn’t, who knows maybe if he had I’d give this movie one star instead of 1/2 a star.