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A Serious Man
A Serious Man Image
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Metascore
79 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 35 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 190 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick
  • Summary: A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy Ableman, who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man? (Focus Features)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 30 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 35
  3. Negative: 3 out of 35
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Have I mentioned A Serious Man is so rich and funny? This isn't a laugh-laugh movie, but a wince-wince movie. Those can be funny too.
  2. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Michael Sragow
    50
    All the Coens come up with is a movie about bad things happening to limited people.
  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    30
    As usual, though, the Coens have more venal satisfactions in mind. "The fun of the story for us," they crow in the notes for this loathsome movie, "was inventing new ways to torture Larry."

See all 35 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 47 out of 91
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 91
  3. Negative: 30 out of 91
  1. ArthurF
    10
    A movie with humor and pathos, funny lines and ultimately no conclusion. That's life. There are no definitive answers. The film has a bleak side, which predominates - there are no answers - and a hilarious side, with some good laughs.… Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  2. AlanK
    5
    Just thought I'd cast another well-deserved mediocre rating for this movie. As another viewer mentioned, maybe because I'm a goy, but most of this movie had little to no emotional impact on me. As such, I can't argue positively or negatively on it's behalf. It's one of those films that self-consciously weird in an understated, annoying way. At their prime the Cohens were joyfully and emphatically peculiar in remarkably clever and entertaining ways (most notably Fargo, but also Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, and most of their earlier work). With this film they're just too smug and subtle for their own good... or ours.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. Peschybear
    2
    One of the worst movies I have seen in the last 5 years. The idea behind it is not bad, but the subtle humor doesn't work. Without the humor, this movie is annoying and boring and at certain points you just cannot believe the story anymore. Nobody (even in those days) is such a pushover as the prime subject. I love the work of the Coen brothers, but this was a waste of my time.… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes

See all 91 User Reviews

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