Movie Review: A Serious Man

From the prolific purveyors of dark comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen, the guys who brought us Barton Fink, Fargo, No Country For Old Men and a few other unforgettable movies, A Serious Man was a huge disappointment. I am by no means a prominent reviewer. I am just a girl who loves the movies and sees just about everything. But I did not see what many other paid and well respected reviewers saw. I may have laughed two or three times. One quarter of the people in the movie theater walked out. I try not to do that. You never know, maybe during the last fifteen minutes the movie redeems itself. That didn't happen. The message of the movie: Even if you are a good, upstanding and devout person, bad things can happen to you. And then there is the message my mother always told me, "Remember sweeheart, nothing is so bad it couldn't get worse". (She was right, by the way). The little addendum in the movie is that in the end, it may not matter. Although I don't think you have to be Jewish to understand this movie (putting aside whether you like it or not), if you are not Jewish, plenty will be missed. I'm not going to belabor this review. It is well acted. Michael Stuhlbarg is perfect as Larry Gopnik, the main character and quintessential nerd who keeps hitting rock bottom and then manages to reach new depths. No complaints there. Just not funny, not compelling and not interesting. In addition, we are forced to "listen" to Larry's socially inept brother, Arthur (Richard Kind) in the bathroom, draining his sebaceous cyst with a suction machine. Not for me. Near the end of the credits it says, "No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture". Well, maybe not in the making but how about in the viewing?