Movie Review – A Serious Man

A Serious Man (2009) – A physics lecturer up for tenure at a small Midwestern university in the late ’60s watches his life spin completely out of control.  His children have little to no use for him, while his wife boots him out to replace him with a recent widower.  His brother lives on the family couch and is filling notebooks with…something.  Meanwhile one of his students is willing to pay him a large

bribe in return for a good grade. No one seems to think that he should have a big problem with all of this, which bothers him a little.  When he turns to his rabbis for spiritual guidance they seem to have even less connection to the “real world” than he does.

I have no idea what to tell you about this movie.  So let’s go with this – if you enjoy the trademark weirdness of the Coen brothers (who wrote and directed) then you’ll probably find something worthwhile here.  If the Coens just set your teeth of edge then you should probably avoid this one too.  It was a nominee for a Best Movie Oscar.

It’s strange, quirky, fascinating and puzzling.  Not my favorite Coen movie (a tie between “Fargo”, “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou” and “The Big Lebowski”) nor is it my least favorite (“Barton Fink”, don’t even get me started).  It was…interesting.

Rating – ***1/2 Worth A Look