A Serious Man

The new dramatic comedy from the Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading, Fargo) is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and "F-Troop" is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person—a mensch—a serious man?

Director:

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Cast:

Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, Peter Breitmayer, Brent Braunschweig, David Kang, Benjamin Portnoe, Alan Mandell, George Wyner, Simon Helberg, Adam Arkin

Reviews:

Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips

Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert

San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle

The New York Times, A.O. Scott

Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan

Boston Herald, James Verniere

Boston Globe, Ty Burr

Star Tribune, Colin Covert

Washington Times, Sonny Bunch

Journal Sentinel, Duane Dudek

Denver Post, Lisa Kennedy