O Brother, Where Art Thou? Review
by "Mark O'Hara" (mwohara AT hotmail DOT com)February 18th, 2001
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
I have always liked George Clooney, even though I have never thought he was a very good actor. The man involves himself with good causes, and he comes from a family famous in the Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area, not far from where I live.
But look at some of the extremely average movies he has been in. Until recently, I liked him best in THE PERFECT STORM, a just-better-than-average flick from last summer.
But now I have OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? to remind me that Clooney can hold his own not just as a handsome celebrity, but as an actual actor.
In this latest film made by Ethan and Joel Coen, Clooney shows up as a dapper and loquacious escapee from a Southern chain gang. His character, Ulysses Everett McGill, is often begrimed with dust and stubble, but always willing to worm his way out of a “tight spot.” What makes him so watchable is the element of difference: Clooney had never tried a role this demanding, in a film laden with so many dimensions.
Is OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? a road movie, a buddy film, a subtle epic of the American spirit? I’d argue it’s all of these, and its main character is a hero straight out of the trickster mold. Even though there are a couple of climactic scenes, the film’s strength is in its wandering action, as well as in its irresistible characterization. Simply put, the characters and the obstacles they meet make the film a lot of fun.
Based on Homer’s “The Odyssey,” OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? follows three men along the route between their escape and the elusive treasure of which they speak incessantly. Ulysses (Roman for Odysseus), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) wander in and out of trouble as they run from Sheriff Cooley (Cincinnatian Daniel Von Bargen, a wonder of a character actor). If you know the bits of THE ODYSSEY taught in high school freshman English classes, you will recognize John Goodman as a one-eyed giant – hilariously Cyclopic; three singing temptresses (Sirens); humans apparently turned into animals (a la the tricks of Circe): a blind prophet; a cow motif (a parallel to the herd of Helios?), and a few other allusions.
The Coens place a good deal of actors from their previous outings into OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? John Turturro is the irascible Pete, born to be hoodwinked, and Tim Blake Nelson is just as good as Delmar: “I have to get the family farm back before I worry about getting a woman.” These two are no match for Ulysses’ wit and winning manner, but they are nevertheless expert as dull foils. The other support is just as well cast – Goodman, Charles Durning as Pappy O’Daniel Holly Hunter as Ulysses’ lost wife, you guessed it, Penny (Penelope!).
It’s no wonder George Clooney brought home the Golden Globe for best actor for his performance in OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? I’ll look at him differently from here on in, and I’ll even suggest my colleagues use the film when they teach the real Homer. It’s a transplanted epic, an ancient story that works well set in Mississippi during the Great Depression. The film is also so full of winks that it would blind the best bird dog if he looked straight into it. Good watchin’, this one.
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