O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
George Clooney, John Turtorro, Tim Blake Nelson; d. Ethan Cohen, Joel Cohen; B+

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of the most clever films I've ever seen. It is an adaption of Homer's The Odessey, greatly adapted, which is truly rare today. What we have today are obvious, and miserable, adaptions of classic stories, most noticably the dozens of Romeo and Juliet rip-offs. Once and a while, we get an adaption that's well-written like West Side Story, an adaption that's so good that, over time, it begins to stand on its own two feet as a complete and seperate story from what it was derived from. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of those films.

The film begins with three convicts, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro), and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), escaping from a chain gang in order to retreive stolen money from a bank heist. Their search takes them on a wild ride across Mississippi, running from the police, meeting everyone from a money-hungry "Bible salesman" (played by John Goodman), a cow hating bank robber (played by The Practice's Michael Badlucco), a black guitarist styled after bluesman Robert Johnson (played by Chris Thomas King), and even battling the KKK. Their wild goose chase leads them to someplace eventually, but it was not what the three men expected, as a blind pyschic (Lee Weaver).

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is enjoyable, probably best described as "cute." It is in no way brilliant, but it's harmless fun, with great performances from everybody, especially John Turturro and Tim Black Nelson. George Clooney is also good, however I'm not too sure he diserved his Golden Globe win. The cinematography of this film is also great, as well as the much-discussed soundtrack, which fits the movie perfectly. Even if you do not like country or bluegrass, which I don't, you'll probably enjoy the music.

I haven't seen a film of the Cohen Brother's outside of O Brother, so I can't make any comparisons here. But I definatley reccomend this film to everyone.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001