We have reached the highest ranking comedy on my list. I love this movie so much, my dad, brother and I went to see the music live in concert. Yes, I willingly went to a concert full of bluegrass and country music and it was amazing. Of course, the music fits the film perfectly and only adds to the greatness of the film. The Coen Brothers, masters of the weird, off the wall brilliance have crafted 4 movies that many people would call brilliant (this one, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country for Old Men). In all honesty, I think all four are pretty perfect. I just happen to prefer this one to the others. I am not sure why, Part of it is the re-purposing of Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey." Another part of it has to do with the stellar cast, and the goofy tone. However, it mostly comes down to the writing. Very few great movies have as much fun with dialog as this movie. The dialog has bursts of wit, absurdity, seriousness, insight and even has a tender heart in places, but all of it works. Everything fits and each character has a distinct voice, which is hard to do when all of the characters have below great levels of intelligence.
Set in 1930s Mississippi, O Brother Where Art Thou follows three escaped convicts as they look for the treasure the leader promised the other two that he hid before he was caught. Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney) is the leader of this bunch. he is a slick talking con man who probably should never be trusted. Unfortunately, Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) and Pete (John Turturro) are not exactly bright guys. McGill has convinced them he robbed an armored car and stashed 1.2 million dollars. They are chained together, which is why he tells them this and why they break out together. However, the law is hot on their trail, so they cannot stay in one place for too long. What follows is a wonderful road trip movie where two of the guys get baptized, they meet a black guitarist who may have sold his soul to the devil, they meet Baby Face Nelson and drive his getaway car, they are lured to sleep by sirens, one of them may or may not get turned into a frog and two of them have a confrontation with a mammoth one eyed John Goodman. They also record a massive hit song, and they have a run in with the KKK.
Told with a wacky sense of humor, wonderful music, great acting and the steady hand of the Coen Brothers, O Brother Where Art Thou is one of the more rewatchable movies I know. I desperately wanted to show it to my Freshman class last year after we read The Odyssey, but there was not enough time. No, it is not a perfect adaptation of that story, but it hits a lot of the same story beats. This is not about how good of a version of Homer's poem the film is though. This is about how wonderfully delightful the film is. First off, it is perfectly hilarious. It has clever laugh out loud dialog, immensely successful physical comedy (Clooney trying to box someone takes the cake), and it has off the wall random nonsense that makes me laugh every time, such as Baby Face Nelson's dislike for cows. I think the real treat though, is the throw away lines. The film is full of these one-liners that out of context would make zero sense, but within the film they are just absolutely hilarious. The film never loses this sense of whimsy, and foolish optimism, even when it feels cynical at times. Clooney, Nelson and Turturro could not possibly be more perfect. Clooney, always a master of cool togetherness, allows himself to just get wacky with this film. He plays on Clooney-esque vanity, and he makes a great dimwitted leader. He never thinks of himself as above the silliness and it shows throughout the film. Tim Blake Nelson, who is not a terribly known actor is the perfect fool in the bunch. Not that the other two characters are geniuses, Nelson's Delmar is the most childlike. he is dumb, but sincere and he gets many of the best lines. He has a playfulness that keeps him from seeming too much of an idiot to function. He is instantly likable. Turturro has never used his fiery temper to better use. Turturro is often an actor who can overdo it. He is wonderful with wonderful directors, and here he is exactly at the right level of over doing it. His hot tempered Pete gets, in my opinion, the wackiest stuff and he takes it all in stride.
No matter how ridiculous the road trip element of the story gets, this movie stays from getting too far off course. It is, at its core, the story of three people searching for one thing, but finding something else. The Coen Brothers know exactly how to balance absurdity into a story. Sure, it is absurd that 90% of the stuff that happens in this movie actually happens, but you never stop believing it. There was a moment in this film where I actually thought maybe Pete did get turned into a toad. Why? Because Delmar believed it so much and it may have fit in with the whimsical nature of the film. The Coen Brothers are usually pretty great with film pacing, but I feel like here, they really knocked it out of the park. Road trip movies often get derailed by staying in one place or in one situation for too long. It can get tedious, but this film has no such problem. Characters enter and exit with extreme quickness. Whether we like the cameo character or not, they are not around long enough to outstay their welcome. No, this movie is about McGill, Delmar, and Pete, and how they react to the silliness surrounding them.
the music in the film, as I mentioned is perfect. The song they record "A Man of Constant Sorrow" is a hit record. Seriously, it could be a real hit record. I loved how the film weaved music in organically by having characters singing sngs at appropriate times and the black guitarist they meet plays a wicked guitar in a rather touching sweet scene in the film for all of the characters. There are a lot of movies that have become synonymous with their music, but none have as much fun with it as this movie. Watching Clooney, Turturro, and Nelson lip-sync to "Man of Constant Sorrow" is an absolute joy and I feel like many movies would not have given us the entire song like that. This is a rare movie that knows exactly when a scene should end and exactly when a scene should linger just a little bit longer to give us the laughs.
O Brother Where Art Thou is not the funniest movie in the world, but it is the best movie that is also hilarious. it tells a wonderful story with great acting, great writing, great music and perfectly pacing. The Coen Brothers will probably continue to create brilliant films, but it will be difficult for them to top this in my opinion. It has everything you want a light hearted wacky film to have. When it is over, you will humming the songs and trading one-liners. At least that is what my family does. It stands as one of the Hadley family's favorite movies. My dad and I still quote it to each other on occasion.
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