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O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Buena Vista Pictures


8.7

based on 30 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 67 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violence and language

Starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Charles Durning, John Goodman, Michael Badalucco, and Holly Hunter

A trio of escaped prisoners (Clooney, Nelson, Turturro) embarks on the adventure of a lifetime as they set out to pursue their freedom and the promise of sharing in the division of a fortune in buried treasure. (Touchstone Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Musical
WRITTEN BY:	Ethan Coen Joel Coen Homer (poem The Odyssey)
DIRECTED BY:	Joel Coen
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 12, 2001 Video: June 12, 2001 Theatrical: December 22, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	106 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

Received two 2001 Oscar nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography. George Clooney also picked up a Golden Globe for his starring role.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's a wild, whacked-out wonder. Coenheads rejoice.

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

A wildly original movie with astonishingly varied moods and influences.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's a new new thing, classic myth from both literature and the movies, commingled, set to great folk music, and untrammeled by any sense of predictability, urgency, realism or believability but hypnotic, graceful and seductive.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

It is, all in all, a rambunctious and inspired ride in which the Coen brothers' voracious fascination with the arcana of American popular culture and their whiz-kid inventiveness reach new heights of whimsy.

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

Clooney has become a movie star, and the Coens have given him his very own "It Happened One Night." The man, and the movie, are downright bona fide.

Salon.com Charles Taylor

From moment to moment, O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a pleasure. But when the Coens are really cooking, when the acting and the conception and the music all come together, it's something more -- Dogpatch rapture.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Devilishly delightful.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

This time around, though, the Coens' usual arch deliberateness isn't quite as deliberate, and there's an appealing shagginess to some of the episodes and performances.... This is the Coen brothers' most emotionally felt movie, and that's not meant as faint praise.

Variety Todd McCarthy

A charming, if lightweight, Coen brothers escapade flecked by plenty of visual and performance grace notes.

Time Richard Corliss

Toss in enough gorgeous bluegrass music to make the movie's CD a must-have, and you have prime, picaresque entertainment.

Film.com Robert Horton

All I can say is this particular excursion into screwball madness is often heavenly, and frankly leaves critical explication somewhat unnecessary. Go see it and laugh.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

As a Coen brothers fan I hate to say this, but the movie's a collection of great bits and pieces rather than a complete work.

Film.com Sean Means

The risk pays off for Clooney and the Coens, as O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a nicely off-kilter exploration of American gumption.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Enlivening things to an unprecedented extent, the songs turn O Brother into perhaps the warmest production in the Coens' repertoire.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A remarkable film. From its performances on down to director of photography Roger Deakins' sun-baked, dirty-ochre cinematography, the film is all of a piece.

San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann

Joyously unhinged and outrageously inventive.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A clever and satisfyingly abundant entertainment.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

The film is worth seeing for George Clooney's performance. More than ever he seems like a Clark Gable for our time.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

For all its originality, O Brother doesn't seem to have a point, or enough spark to distract us from the lack thereof.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

O Brother contains sequences that are wonderful in themselves--lovely short films--but the movie never really shapes itself into a whole.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

While it displays its share of quirky charm, off-kilter characters and outlandish situations, this is really the first film where you can feel the Coens straining to keep up with themselves.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Not quite as funny as it wants to be. Mostly, it's just silly. But as always, the Coens are entertaining themselves first.and their quirky individuality has served them and their fans well so far.

USA Today Mike Clark

Of all unlikely possibilities, the team has finally made a movie that, for them, is on the tepid side.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The art direction is impeccable, but this is a pop-up book that I was impatient to slam.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Often clever but fundamentally shallow, this shaggy-dog story is greatly enriched by its extraordinary bluegrass soundtrack, supervised by T Bone Burnett and performed by a phenomenal collection of artists.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

For all its ambitions, though, the Coens' odyssey is a scattershot affair with too many tricks and twists for its own good.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Remains naggingly hollow, a cerebral exercise in whimsy that isn't nearly clever or funny enough to seem like more than grand self-indulgence.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

After making their two best features to date, "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski," the Coen brothers have surely come up with their worst.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Whenever the music subsides and the characters speak the Coens' lines, the film turns back into mush.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Why would filmmakers with this much talent work this hard to thumb their noses at everything they put on screen?

The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 67 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Big Red gave it a10:
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The wacky characters, the plot twists, the dialogue, the music, the look and feel of it all. Each scene is a joy to watch. Every actor and actress manages to create personalities that are just plain fun to watch. Any critic that rates “Clerks 2” and “You, Me and Dupree” better than “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” should be fired. Don’t rent this movie; buy it because you’ll want to watch it more than once or twice.

Jared B. gave it a10:
This is one of the greatest comedy films I have ever seen. The acting is simply brilliant. This is due, in part, to some very clever writing. Kudos go out to George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Turturro for their portrayals of the southern version of the Three Stooges. The music was awesome.

Max M. gave it a10:
This is a great movie! It's not just the comedy thats great, its the astounding broad appeal of the movie that was actually captured in this film. Everyone that I know of, regardless of age, can manage to love this movie. Also, the entire films, in the artistic view of being able to portray the time period (the backdrops, the people of the time, etc. etc..), is unrivaled! Also, the dialogue of this movie is amazing - from the intellectual and witty Everett with company of the constantly dumbfounded and comedic Delmar to the always-stubborn and hard-headed Pete. Truly amazing. "I don't mean to be tellin' tales out of school, but there's a man in there that'll pay ya 15 bucks to sing into his can." The innocence in this character... Perfect.

Angel A. gave it a10:
Moving and transporting -- beautiful and hilarious... Simply a stunning work of art.

patrick d. gave it a9:
Not the best movie ever, but certainly a good one.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Strange adaptation of the Odyssey, although the great depression would hardly be my choice. The part where that criminal fired at the cows was funny.

Jack S gave it a9:
Rosenbaum and Gleiberman are idiots. 'Nihilistic'? 'Contemptuous'? Oh, I'm sorry, Rosenbaum's idea of a good comedy is "Down With Love." This is an EXCELLENT picture. It looks and sounds gorgeous (beautifully shot and scored), and anyone who dismisses it as a collection of yuppie relics doesn't have a clue This is goofy, off-the-wall stuff that RELISHES in the past. This isn't a paper-thin musical pastiche like, say, The Big Chill. The music is a crucial element in this picture where the characters and the songs feed off each other. Supposedly, the Coen Brothers never read the Odyssey and basically used elements already known through pop culture (they did something similar with Fargo - the opening title card says it's 'based on a true story,' but it's complete fiction). This picture owes a greater debt to Preston Sturges, one of their biggest influences and to whom they pay homage in this picture's title. Sturges made some of the craziest screwball comedies of all-time, and that's exactly what we get here. It's funny not because of one-liners but because of the nutjobs and bizarre scenarios that fill this picture. To say it's contemptuous is absurd - EVERYONE in the Coen Brothers' universe is a bit loopy. It's not their best picture, but it's still right up there with Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Fargo, and the rest.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? Buena Vista Pictures

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Buena Vista Pictures