Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff ...( see more  see more... ) , Jessica McManus , Peter Breitmayer , David Kang , Benjy Portnoe , Amy Landecker , George Wyner , Adam Arkin

A black comedy set in 1967 and centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won't move out of the house.

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74% liked it

24,704 ratings

Critics

87% liked it

176 critics

R, 1 hr. 45 min.

Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Release Date: October 2, 2009

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DVD Release Date: February 9, 2010

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Stats: 2,148 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (2,148)


  • February 10, 2010
    For me, A Serious Man came across as an enjoyable, stoned mosaic that never let me quite get my bearings. Never truly engaging but usually entertaining, the Coens latest rarely let up and give you time to digest what's happening to and with their sympathetic protagonist, Larry Go...( read more)pnik. A Serious Man has plenty of the trademarked Coen moments (namely with Clive and any scene with a Rabbi) and as always, Roger Deakins' cinematography (namely during the dream sequences and any scene involving being stoned) is fantastic. Hats off to Mrs. Samsky and no matter how much this movie may put you off, the last 5 minutes is worth the whole ride.
  • February 9, 2010
    "When the truth is found to be lies, and all the hope within you dies..."

    A black comedy set in 1967 and centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won't move out of the house...( read more).

    REVIEW

    "The Book Of Job" meets "Fiddler On The Roof" in this very Jewish, very funny, very opaque and thought-provoking work from brothers Joel and Ethan Coen. There is never a boring moment in a superb movie which opens with a Yiddish-language tale set in 19th century Poland, works through one personal problem after another after another, three anxiety dreams and three encounters with rabbis with ever-larger reputations for wisdom and ever more gnomic utterances, and concludes with a final joke in the very last screen of credits. The Coen brothers have gone back to their adolescent years with a narrative set in a Jewish community in Minnesota in 1967 which dissects the Semitic lifestyle and belief system while posing challenging questions about duality and uncertainty.

    The eponymous character is played by the previously unheralded Michael Stuhlbarg who is rarely off the screen and who, as the hapless Larry Gopnick, (most of the time) demonstrates remarkable patience and resilience in the face of repeated assaults on his efforts as a husband, father, brother, and teacher while he attempts to be "a serious man". It is a kind of Kafkaresque dreamworld with a cruel sense of humour where nothing works out quite as it should and the end brings both a physical and metaphorical storm. You'll be debating the meaning of it all long after you've enjoyed its richly-layered story, but the Coen brothers themselves offer - with a heavy dose of irony - the advice of the wise 12th century Jewish scholar Rashi: "Receive with simplicity all the things that happen to you".
  • February 4, 2010
    So hilarious!
  • January 16, 2010
    After the instant, perfect classic of No Country For Old Men, the Coens went for pure farce in Burn After Reading. A Serious Man, however, is the Coens at their (in my opinion) best. It mixes dark and often cruel humour, with a realistic, if exaggerated, look at humanity. A Serio...( read more)us Man is a film that takes on difficult themes, as they are hard to display satisfactorily. "Shit happens" and "Does it matter?" seem to be the main points the film wishes to express. If there is a God or higher power, why does he do/allow bad things to happen? Just because. He doesn't have to answer to you. A cast of mostly unrecognizables, help create a fantastic and witty view of late 60's Jewish life. The Coens also give us stories with no real conclusion, as the story of the dentist represents an interesting and engaging tale, without a dramatic climax. Sometimes the journey is more satisfactory than the finale. Such is life, which can end at any moment. Bad things are going to happen, and sometimes there's no reason, or way to stop them.
  • January 10, 2010
    Maybe the last Great film of the decade and (for me at least) the Cohen brothers' finest film (even more so than Fargo or Blood Simple). Certainly their most emotionally rewarding - funny, poignant, breathtakingly restrained and more than a little devastating. A film that will s...( read more)tay with you even if you don't realise it.
  • February 10, 2010
    this was funny....low key funny that might be hilarious the second time. coen bros, you know what to expect
  • February 9, 2010
    I would never say I am a fan of the Coen brothers. For the most part I find their movies over the top, redundant and overly long. A serious man was not nearly as dark as I had expected and for it's well-written yet not totally original plot, it was perfect in length.
  • February 9, 2010
    I can't believe i watched this movie to the end. Well I think it was the end?????? As I read these reviews I wonder if I watched the same movie.
  • February 9, 2010
    Black Comedy. That is how i just described this film to Francisco my colleague. He isn't much of a film critic even though he probably watches more movies than I do and he certainly goes to the cinema more often. He recommends Observe and Report so I don't take his opinion serio...( read more)usly.

    I told him I saw a good film last night, a serious man, its a comedy, a black comedy and thats about right. I found myself sniggering throughout this film without ever laughing out loud. Thats not a bad thing just an observation. The sound was crummy on my version unfortunately so i didnt enjoy it as much as i could but it was a well shot well directed film that ended all too abruptly as I almost expected it to.

    Michael Stuhlbarg was excellent as larry and Richard Kind was good as his odd brother who is always draining his cyst! The film is set in 1967 and is probably semi auto biographical for the Coen brothers. There is a lot of jewish words and references I didnt get and an in joke about the wife wanting a 'get' and no one knowing what that is. Get it?

    Anyway, I enjoyed the film but not as much as I hoped and not enough for me to award it best film at the oscars this year. Sorry Ethan and Joel - next year maybe!
  • February 9, 2010
    Coens' off-beat existential crisis lampoon melding a Kafka-esque nightmare of acute fear and dread to comicality. Ample mirth offsets the weight of Michael Stuhlbarg's honest man's life crashing progressively and more outlandishly down around him. Fred Melamed steals each of his...( read more) scenes.

Critic Reviews


November 12, 2009
Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Isn't drawn in one-to-one cause-effect lines, its obliqueness lending suspense and interpretative depth to the Job-like suffering of Larry. full review

October 9, 2009
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

It's hard to love a movie that makes you feel anxious and miserable, and yet it's impossible not to respect a movie that has that power. full review

October 8, 2009
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

While there are plenty of oddball touches, some mystifying (like the Yiddish-language prologue, set in a Polish shtetl and seeming to have little to do with what follows it; and the abrupt ending) -- ... full review

October 8, 2009
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

This isn't a laugh-laugh movie, but a wince-wince movie. Those can be funny, too. full review

October 2, 2009
Claudia Puig, USA Today

A Serious Man is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film. full review

October 2, 2009
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

This seriously funny movie, artfully photographed by the great Roger Deakins, is spiritual in nature, barbed in tone, and, oh, yeah, it stings like hell. full review

October 2, 2009
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

A Serious Man is, like its biblical source, a distilled, hyperbolic account of the human condition. The punch line is a little different, but you know the joke. And it's on you, of course. full review

October 1, 2009
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Man plans, God laughs, and so do the Coen brothers. full review

September 30, 2009
Armond White, The New York Press

A Serious Man rejects the bland Jewishness of Judd Apatow films; it's similar to the black filmmakers' project in Next Day Air, in which social stereotypes get burlesqued, yet are used to reveal an es... full review

September 28, 2009
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

A Serious Man is not only hauntingly original, it's the final piece of the puzzle that is the Coens. full review

View more A Serious Man reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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A Serious Man Trivia


  • what Actor plays the role of a man being interrigated by police in a serious murder case and details everything to do with the case and is set free due to mistreatment during the interview?( The last shot is of this actor laughing)  Answer »
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