A Serious Man (2009) **

The Coen Brothers have become their own worst enemy since winning the big one for No Country For Old Men. Last years Burn After Reading boasted an all-star cast, but was lacking as a film, descending into mediocrity and just plain blahness. A Serious Man is the same situation except this time the only actor you may actually remember from another movie is Fletch's ex- wife's attorney. Not that unknowns are bad for a movie. Clark Cable's corpse couldn't help this dry, go no where experience.

Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is having a bad week. His wife wants a divorce. His brother won't get out of his house. His tenure is in jeopardy. And things keep snowballing out of control as he moves into the Jolly Roger and tries to figure out what is life really is about and why he deserves the wrath that God has served him this week.

Basically a black comedy about being Jewish in the late 1960's, A Serious Man plays like an extended episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry continually gets dumped on and dumped on to the point of excess, trying to reach that mythical rabbi that won't see him because he's sitting there thinking. "Comedy" has to be put in quotes with this one because it really wasn't that funny. I know this isn't a screwball comedy, but it felt more sad than anything. Here's a guy whose life is being flushed down the toilet and he can't figure out why. The movie just feels like its sitting there spinning its wheels with nowhere to go but the two hour mark and then roll the credits.

This is being called the movie the Coen's can make since they won an Oscar. I've never understood why director's true pet projects mainly end up being crap. Let's face it- if the best picture category wasn't increased to ten films you would have never heard a peep from this Sunday night. Hopefully this is a pot boiler for the Coen's and their next flick will be something that will wow its audience a little bit.