Watching A Serious Man, there's little doubt that the film sprung from the minds of siblings Joel and Ethan Coen (Burn After Reading). Like a lot of their films, the movie is smart, very funny in a dark and deadpan sort of way, and wraps itself up with an ending that is bound to fascinate some and frustrate many. It is not their strongest film. It lacks the personal connection that their best offers an audience. But it is challenging and beautifully shot, and never failed to hold my attention.

The film is set in a suburb in Minnesota in 1967, the same era that the Coens themselves grew up. Despite the sunny skies and well-attended lawns, our attention is drawn to a simple and lanky Jewish man named Larry Gopnik (Tony nominee Michael Stuhlbarg). Larry is a physics professor who seems to have it all briefly, before the movie spends the rest of its running time destroying his life, little by little. It all starts when his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) announces that she has fallen for long-time friend and recent widower Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), and wants a divorce. This leads Larry to have to move into a local motel with his crazy brother, Uncle Arthur (Richard Kind). Larry tries to lead a semi-normal life despite this setback, but life won't seem to let him. His son (Aaron Wolff) is smoking pot, and has gotten in trouble with the local drug pusher. Not that his son seems to notice Larry that much. During the few moments he's home with his family, all his son wants is for dad to get up on the roof and fix the TV antenna so he can watch F-Troop. Larry's daughter (Jessica McManus) seems to think even less of him, and spends most of her time stealing money from the family so she can eventually afford a nose job.

Life outside of the family isn't much better. A Korean student and his family is trying to bribe and blackmail him into giving the kid a better grade in his class, and a neighbor who Larry feels is cutting into his property by mowing an inch or so into his lawn. There's also a car accident. His friends advise him to consult a rabbi. He sees three, and they offer little help. A Serious Man is a boiling point movie. It keeps on building and building, to the point that we feel like it's going to explode, only to learn that things aren't over yet, and are simply building some more. The Coens like to test their audience with this film. The movie opens with a seemingly unrelated prologue set hundreds of years ago, concerning a Jewish couple and a man who may or may not have died three years ago, but is now sitting in their house and making conversation. It's not until much later that we understand the connection. The movie also tests us by forcing us to laugh at the misery of the main character. You won't find a darker comedy than this in 2009, I promise. The movie also tests our expectations, by taking some severe twists and turns, many of them the result of death.

If I'm making the movie sound depressing or heavy, it's not. Yes, it's dark, but there are some genuinely funny moments, such as a rabbi who quotes Jefferson Airplane in his philosophy. The movie constantly seems to be a balancing act, which it successfully pulls off. We are horrified by some of the developments, but the Coens constantly have a devilish glee to their writing, which clues you in that you're not supposed to be taking this entirely seriously. The whole thing draws a lot of power from the lead performance by Michael Stuhlbarg. Mostly known for his stage work, this is a star-making turn as he makes Larry into a truly three dimensional character that we can sympathize with. He's powerful here, as we constantly feel his rage and frustration that's just below his calm exterior. The casting all around is actually quite excellent, as the entire cast is made up either of character actors, or newcomers. There's not a celebrity in the bunch, which is kind of a change of pace from the Coens' past few films. Without a Brad Pitt or a George Clooney to headline, I don't know if audiences will turn out, but I hope they do. This is a powerful film that is sure to spark discussion during the ride home, especially the ending, which lends itself to a number of interpretations as to just what it means.

So, despite all this, why does A Serious Man fall short of the brothers' best films? Aside from Larry, none of the characters seem all that three dimensional, for one thing. Maybe that was the whole point, but I wanted to get more emotionally involved with some of the characters than I was. Some of the characters, such as a sexy woman who lives nearby (Amy Landecker) and a friend Larry confides in (Katherine Borowitz) seem to fade in and out of the narrative, almost as if the Coens had these characters, but didn't know how to truly flesh them out. They serve a point to the story, but I wanted the screenplay to develop them more. Did it effect my enjoyment of the film itself? Not enough for me to lose interest in the film, but it was constantly in the back of my mind. This is the kind of movie that is so great in a lot of ways that you want everything else to be on the same level.
Even if A Serious Man is not a crowning achievement, it still demands to be seen. Not just by devotees of the filmmakers, but by everyone. People are sure to react differently, and take something away from the movie that no one else does. This is a film that fools you with its somewhat low key tone, and grows into something quite powerful and memorable. It's not perfect, but it's still one of the more thought-provoking films I've seen this year.

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