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A Serious Man |  | Actors: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Aaron Wolff
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $3.94
as of 9/9/2010 11:11 CDT details
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New (36) Used (45) from $3.94
Seller: Scouter Page's Book Shop
Rating:  131 reviews
Sales Rank: 1761
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 025195052740
UPC: 025195052740
EAN: 0025195052740
ASIN: B003102JDM
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: February 9, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A Midwestern physics professor faces changes in his life when his wife prepares to leave him, his job is threatened, and different advice from three r
Joel and Ethan Coen make movies like nobody else's, but even by their standards A Serious Man is in a class by itself: a complete original that's one of the brothers' best. After a deeply weird Yiddish folk-tale prologue set in 19th-century Poland (and framed in the old 1.33:1 format), the picture shifts to the region and era of the Coens' own upbringing, a Minneapolis suburb in 1967. Larry Gopnik (a superbly concentrated portrait in comic anguish by Michael Stuhlbarg) is a college physics prof facing a welter of crises and distractions: review by the tenure committee, son Danny's bar mitzvah, a cryptic-verging-on-sinister protest from a Korean-American student, the alienation of wife Judith's affections by widower Sy Ableman, the ongoing encroachment of brother Arthur and his sebaceous cyst--and don't even mention the proto-Nazi who lives next door. All these, and more, form a screenplay of such intricacy that the blackly comic tensions of one shaggy-dog narrative strand leap synapse-like to another; the movie becomes a symphony of metaphysical dread. Working again with world-class cameraman Roger Deakins and editing, as always, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes, the Coens maintain impeccable control over the movie's look and timing. This is more crucial than ever, given that in the precarious universe they define, "actions have consequences." Then again, so does nonaction; not ordering "the monthly main selection" from the Columbia Record Club means you've ordered it. The main-title credits almost flaunt the fact that most of the cast members will be unfamiliar to us (though they all deliver); best known are Richard Kind as Arthur, Adam Arkin as Larry's divorce lawyer, and Michael Lerner (the studio boss in Barton Fink) doing a hilarious, wordless cameo as Solomon Schlutz. Special praise is due Fred Melamed, seizing the role of a lifetime as the unctuous Sy Ableman; Amy Landecker as Mrs. Samsky, the multifariously zoned-out siren who's Larry's other next-door neighbor; and Avi Hoptman as Arlen, Larry's mealy-mouthed academic colleague who can't resist hinting at the latest rumblings from the tenure committee, even if he can't really say anything. --Richard T. Jameson
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 131
 A serious waste of time August 29, 2010
none (none)
Although I usually enjoy coen brothers movies, this one never really comes to any sort of end,
almost none of the numerous subplots has any resolution.
Avoid August 18, 2010
Elliott (L.A.)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Avoid this movie. It's the forgettable story of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor. It's meticulously set in 1967, for reasons made (somewhat) clear in the film.
Gopnik suffers a series of humiliations. His wife betrays him. Her lover mocks him. His lazy leech of a brother burdens him. A failing student tries to bribe him, and rudely confronts him when he rejects the bribe. His teenage children barely notice when he gets kicked out of his house and moves to a cheap motel. Three rabbis do not offer him the solace that he desperately seeks. In fact, one of the rabbis confuses him by telling an absurd story that eats up a big chunk of the film. And the above list probably only covers about half of Gopnik's woes.
I don't blame the actors. They did their best with a very weak story, and some of the performances, including Stuhlbarg's, were impressive. Hence the two stars.
I have seen and thoroughly enjoyed five other Coen brothers films, so I know how talented they are. But they just do not deliver with this one.
Perhaps their goal here is to show us that life is unfair and that bad things happen to good, honest, and, yes, "serious" people. Bad things also happen to people like Gopnik, who, if you think about it, isn't really all that "good." The big problem is we knew all of this before we hit the play button. And the theme of good people suffering has been presented far more effectively elsewhere. Some reviewers have mentioned the Book of Job.
 A Serious Disappointment August 8, 2010
R. A. Garcia (Ventura, CA United States)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
I liked many of the Coen Brothers previous films. But like many other reviewers, I found this film to be extremely tedious in its trying to get to the point, which is never really made. I understand that the theme of "life can be miserable" can make a great movie when done in an entertaining way. This movie was not.
I do appreciate a good black comedy, but usually the point is made somewhere in the film. Supposedly this is a "slice of life" kind of movie, but it is a miserable slice at that. Sure many of the characters are quirky, but why should we care about any of them when they are largely dishonest and/or selfish? Even, Larry Gopnik (the main character) is so feckless that you stop feeling any sympathy for his plight and really wish he would stand up for something, just once, and begin to show that he is a real man in charge of his own life. No such luck. You keep waiting for the emotional pay off, but it never comes. Perhaps that is their point about life sometimes. But then why should we care to watch and identify with this man's misery for 105 minutes when he doesn't seem to care enough himself?
There are too many loose ends left at the end, with only a foreboding ending scene to make you wonder how this movie could have ended better if the Coen's had really cared enough about their viewers. It's as if they wrote, directed and produced this film solely for their own personal enjoyment, because there were too many inside jokes and Jewish references that only a select demographic of people could probably appreciate the supposed cleverness that they put into this film. Perhaps the Coen's have now become too clever for their own good. This is not for the majority of film-goers. It can be difficult to watch. I understand the concept of showing how life can appear to be just a random series of unconnected events. But why do we want to immerse ourselves in those waters when those are the ones we as viewers are trying to escape from ourselves. At least give us something more substantial that makes some sense and gives us a feeling that watching this film was worthwhile.
From the beginning sequence in Yiddish to the final tornado scene, no attempt is really made to join many of these scenes together. Even the intriguing story sequence about the dentist and the "Goy" are left as a mystery in the end as to why they were placed into the film at all. It seemed totally unrelated to the film. What's the point? Another inside joke? Much is left unexplained. And thus a rising feeling begins to grow stronger in you as a viewer as the movie plods on. The kind of feeling you get when you realize that you have sat through this waste of time, wondering what other film you could have watched instead. No movie magic here, just relentless misery, seemingly unrelated scenes and quirky but unlikeable characters. However, you are finally relieved when you see the final tornado sequence (also seemingly unfinished) and not really caring anymore what becomes of any of the movie characters, just glad that it is finally over. This is definitely not a "feel good" movie. But if you like "downers" you are in for a treat.
 A Good Man July 23, 2010
Stephen M. Prescott (Minneapolis, Minnesota United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
A good man cannot be harmed . . . - Socrates
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. - Jesus Christ
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There are two ways to be a serious man in the manner in which the term is understood in this movie. One way is to be recognized by society as the kind of man who can reward his friends and punish his enemies, a man of consequence, a man to be taken seriously. The other way is to be in full possession of your soul. The eponymous hero of this movie, Larry Gopnik (a physics professor played with great skill by Michael Stuhlbarg) is of the second type. To the eyes of the world, he is a timid man of little consequence. But God, who sees all things, knows otherwise and sends him sorrows so that his soul might bear fruit.
His wife leaves him for another man who, while pretending to be his friend, is secretly conspiring to get Larry denied tenure at his college. One of his students tries to bribe him into giving him a passing grade and when Larry refuses, threatens a lawsuit. His troglodyte neighbor bullies him. His teenage children, being teenage children, can see his predicament and yet are too wrapped up in their own petty concerns to give him the affection and companionship he needs. In desperation, Larry seeks out, in succession, the advise of three Rabbais who, like the friends of Job in the Bible, offer nothing. Larry is overwhelmed with no one left to turn to.
What does Larry do? Instead of striking back, he simply absorbs the insults and cruelty. When his wife and her lover suggest he move out of his own house to a seedy motel, he quietly complies. He carries on with each situation by ascertaining the most civil, the most considerate response until, at the end of the film, things turn around and each burden resolves to a tolerably good conclusion, seemingly by itself. Mysteriously, God laid these burdens on Larry and, just as mysteriously, He lifted them. It was all for a purpose. The burdens could have been born with such grace only by a serious man. The trial is over.
THE COHEN BROTHERS DO IT AGAIN (!) July 21, 2010
Rick Lloyd (Honolulu, Hawaii)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have always loved Cohen Bros movies. And, this one is no exception. This one has a comedy that's so understated that I was in hysterics from beginning to end.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 131
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