DVD Movie Rating for: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

4 out of 5

Movie Plot of: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Three 1920's convicts escape from jail intent on getting to the loot stashed away by one of them. As this is at his house soon to be flooded by a new dam, speed is of the essence. They find themselves fast-talking their way out of one jam after another, and along the way not only have to be wary of riverside sirens but even get to make a pretty good country record.

Loosely based on Homer's 'Odyssey' the movie deals with the grotesque adventures of Everett Ulysses McGill and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississipi. Sprung from a chain gang and trying to reach Everetts home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist they are confronted by a series of strange characters. Among them sirens, a cyclops, bankrobber George 'Babyface' Nelson (very annoyed by that nickname), a campaigning Governor, his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet, who warns the trio that "the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find."

DVD Production Details of: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Cast of the movie: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

• George Clooney .... Ulysses Everett McGill
• John Turturro .... Pete
• Tim Blake Nelson .... Delmar O'Donnell
• John Goodman .... Big Dan Teague
• Holly Hunter .... Penny Wharvey McGill
• Chris Thomas King .... Tommy Johnson
• Charles Durning .... Gov. Menelaus 'Pappy' O'Daniel
• Del Pentecost .... Junior O'Daniel
• Michael Badalucco .... George 'Baby Face' Nelson
• J.R. Horne .... Pappy's Staff
• Brian Reddy .... Pappy's Staff
• Wayne Duvall .... Gubernatorial Candidate Homer Stokes
• Ed Gale .... The Little Man
• Ray McKinnon .... Vernon T. Waldrip, Penny's Suitor
• Daniel von Bargen .... Sheriff Cooley/The Devil
• Royce D. Applegate .... Man with Bullhorn
• Frank Collison .... Washington 'Wash' Bartholomew Hogwallop
• Quinn Gasaway .... Boy Hogwallop, Wash's Son
• Lee Weaver .... Blind Seer on Handcar
• Millford Fortenberry .... Pomade Vendor
• Stephen Root .... Lund, Manager WEZY Radio
• John Locke .... Mr. French, Record Company Man
• Gillian Welch .... Voice of Siren (uncredited)/Soggy Bottom Customer (voice)
• A. Ray Ratliff .... Record Store Clerk
• Mia Tate .... Siren
• Christy Taylor .... Siren
• Musetta Vander .... Siren
• April Hardcastle .... Waitress
• Michael W. Finnell .... Pete's Interrogator
• Georgia Rae Rainer .... Wharvey Gal
• Marianna Breland .... Wharvey Gal
• Lindsey Miller .... Wharvey Gal
• Natalie Shedd .... Wharvey Gal
• John McConnell .... Woolworths Manager
• Issac Freeman .... Gravedigger
• Wilson Waters Jr. .... Gravedigger
• Robert Hamlett .... Gravedigger
• Willard Cox .... Cox Family
• Evelyn Cox .... Cox Family
• Suzanne Cox .... Cox Family
• Sidney Cox .... Cox Family
• Buck White .... The Whites
• Sharon White .... The Whites
• Cheryl White .... The Whites
• Ed Snodderly .... Village Idiot
• David Holt .... Village Idiot

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O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Reviews of the movie: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Only Joel and Ethan Coen, the fraternal director and producer team behind art-house hits such as The Big Lebowski and Fargo and masters of quirky and ultra-stylish genre subversion, would dare nick the plot line of Homer's Odyssey for a comic picaresque saga about three cons on the run in 1930s Mississippi. Our wandering hero in this case is one Ulysses Everett McGill, a slick-tongued wise guy with a thing about hair pomade (George Clooney, blithely sending up his own dapper image) who talks his chain-gang buddies (Coen-movie regular John Turturro and newcomer Tim Blake Nelson) into lighting out after some buried loot he claims to know of. En route they come up against a prophetic blind man on a railroad truck, a burly, one-eyed baddie (the ever-magnificent John Goodman), a trio of sexy singing ladies, a blues guitarist who's sold his soul to the devil, a brace of crooked politicos on the stump, a manic-depressive bank robber, and--well, you get the idea. Into this, their most relaxed film yet, the Coens have tossed a beguiling ragbag of inconsequential situations, a wealth of looping, left-field dialogue, and a whole stash of gags both verbal and visual. O Brother (the title's lifted from Preston Sturges's classic 1941 comedy Sullivan's Travels) is furthermore graced with glowing, burnished photography from Roger Deakins and a masterly soundtrack from T-Bone Burnett that pays loving homage to American '30s folk styles--blues, gospel, bluegrass, jazz, and more. And just to prove that the brothers haven't lost their knack for bad-taste humor, we get a Ku Klux Klan rally choreographed like a cross between a Nuremberg rally and a Busby Berkeley musical.

Headline says it all really. I was a bit sceptical about going to see the film. Firstly the location was an 'Arty' cinema house and that sort of gave me the impression of an 'arty-farty' concept film, not made for the pleasure of the mass public, and a film to establish Clooney as more than a hearthrob. However, I read the review of the film, and according to the review the film would need to be watched more than once to be able to appreciate all the humour, as it came thick and fast. I think that comment was meant for the Dutch, originating from the UK I had no trouble with following the film.

To my delight I was delighted with the film. Clooney played his part excellently as did the rest of the cast. The humour was great, at times very stereotypical, at times very subtle. Even though I had heard of the film it was not a huge box office success to my knowledge, which I think it deserved to be. Watch it and be surprised.