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Dan
03-28-2001, 03:41 PM
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (PG-13)

three stars
Review by Katherine Northup, 14

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” is a wonderful film that combines comedy and the values of friendship. I liked this movie because it made me laugh.

This film was a slapstick comedy set back just before the Depression. It included gangsters, the KKK (no laughing matter), and three convicts who could be classified in the “country bumpkin” category. The convicts were definitely the three stooges of this movie who turned many scenes into slapstick. One of the funnier moments was when two of the convicts thought that their friend had turned into a toad. It’s one of those gimmicks that if it’s funny once, it becomes even funnier if it’s brought up at odd moments. I love things like that.

This movie is about three convicts who escape from a chain gang to find a buried treasure. “O Brother, Where Are Thou?” is set back during the 1930s in the southern bayous. The characters in this movie are stereotypical “southern bumpkins.” Everett is the smartest of the three, a fast, smooth-talking liar. He talked the other two boys into breaking out. Next come the two bumblers, Delmar and Pete. Everett didn’t seem to want company on his escape, but he didn’t really have much of a choice, as the others were chained to him.

The treasure bit was just a way of convincing the other men to break out. The real reason that Everett wanted to escape was that he had heard that his wife was going to remarry. He couldn’t let this happen because he still loved her and their seven daughters.

On their way to find the fictional treasure, the men record a hit record and stumble into a KKK meeting. The members of the KKK caught Tommy and were going to hang him because he’s an African- American. Tommy’s friends dress up as members and rescue him.

“O Brother, Where Art Thou?” has many stories compiled into one big story. I liked the way the movie did this. I didn’t like Everett’s wife. I mean, if a guy busted out of jail for her, traveled more than 100 miles for her, and searched for their wedding ring during a flood just for her, she should at least give him a second chance.

I would recommend this movie to people of ages 12 and up. There is quite a bit of violence, cursing, and I don’t think that the scenes with the KKK would be appropriate for people under 12 to see. This movie seemed very fair towards the time period it was set in. I hope that you enjoy this humorous film as much as I did.

END

Brent Northup

Kievv
03-28-2001, 07:06 PM
Hey! What kind of inconsiderate person writes a movie review giving away key surprises in the plot?! Would you appreciate it if I wrote a review of, say, The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable and gave away the ending, and you hadn't seen it yet? What's the point of a review but to tell people how good a movie is? People who've seen the movie can't gain a thing from the review. For the love of crap, don't just summarize the plot. This review gives away no less than four MAJOR plot elements that might come as surprises for the viewers. These are called SPOILERS, and have no place in an objective review.

What's worse, I don't think this reviewer did her homework, and I don't think she quite *got* the movie's humor. There's no mention of the fact that it's filmed in the comedy style of depression-era filmmaker Preston Sturges, or that it's loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, or that the filmmakers, the renowned Coen brothers (makers of Fargo, Raising Arizona, and The Big Lebowski) admitted to never even having read The Odyssey themselves.

The Coen brothers' depiction of the depression-era south is laced with insidious inside jokes and clever dialogue, with a rich cast of characters, each magnificently acted and with their own nuances. I gave it three thumbs up. Best film I saw all year. Great soundtrack, too, with blue-grass knee-slappers laced throughout the film and yet somehow intergral to the plot. I'm not a fan of old-style country music or blue-grass, or even blues, but I bought the soundtrack anyway, because it's just so darned good.

Please, if at all possible, don't post plot spoilers to movies. That's not nice.