DVD Review: A Serious Man

Posted Feb 8, 2010 by Kevin Walker

Updated Feb 8, 2010 at 12:05 PM

A Serious Man
Stars: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff
Directors: Ethan and Joel Coen (“No Country For Old Men,” “Fargo”)
The plot: In this black comedy set in 1967, Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg) is a suburban husband and father who teaches physics at the local college. He balances his belief in reason with a dose of faith and strives to be a good man. But he begins to question everything when his life quickly falls apart, beginning with his wife leaving him for his best friend, a student trying to blackmail him for a better grade and someone trying to anonymously sabotage his shot at tenure.
Bottom line: It’s a retelling of the Book of Job, with humor. This movie is very, very funny — if you’re the sort of person who likes your comedy black with no sweetener. At this point, most Coen Brothers fans compare the pair’s movies only against their previous work—that’s how well they have carved out their own genre, beginning in 1984 with the outstanding “Blood Simple.” While some are lesser lights than others (“The Man Who Wasn’t There” ) they are always interesting, even if befuddling (“Barton Fink,” which I still don’t quite get). “A Serious Man” is not their best film, but it’s still better than most films released last year, and kudos for the Academy Awards folks for acknowledging that. Go in expecting to laugh but not to be uplifted. And then you’ll find yourself still thinking about what it all meant days later.
Extras: A decent documentary with behind the scenes footage of the film production, plus information on the film’s locations.
Quote: “Please. Accept the mystery.”
106 minutes (R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence)