A Serious Man (2009)

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A Serious Man Movie Review

A Serious Man is a 2009 black comedy film directed by the Coen Brothers and starring Michael Stuhlbarg. It is an incredibly frustrating, weak film.

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“The Uncertainty Principle.

It proves we can’t ever really know… what’s going on.

So it shouldn’t bother you.

Not being able to figure anything out.“

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It follows a Jewish man whose life crumbles both personally and professionally leading him to questions about faith. The film definitely had a great deal of potential as the premise is actually stupendous. I loved its themes and it was interesting seeing the man reevaluate and question his religion. That theme and conflict is always fascinating to me.

However, the execution is quite poor and thus successfully diminishing the movie’s impact. I have never liked the Coen Brothers and their style is very annoying to me. They are definitely not my cup of tea. And I am saying that because they are the ones who are responsible for this movie’s problems as they usually are. The direction is weak and annoying with a lack of any focus and with no point to it whatsoever. It just sort of starts and ends with no message and yet it is also not thought-provoking. They wasted such a great premise on a terrible execution.

The characters are solid. They are memorable and they are realistic. But these actors are obviously of lower caliber and Michael Stuhlbarg was never great and all of the others gave quite weak, passable performances in a movie that needed better acting.

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The film is well made, it is definitely slow, but it isn’t really boring as it benefits from solid dialogue and a couple of really effective, emotional sequences. I liked the conversational scenes the most and I wish the entire movie was more theatrical in its approach instead of slower and with some scenes that do not feature any dialogue and those were my least favorite. I found the film’s prologue to be exceptional and riveting. It instantly hooked me in the story, but they never really connected it well with the other parts of the film and the ending was just so stupid. The film was basically an excuse to torture the protagonist with no point or message whatsoever. It did not deserve its Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay nominations at all and it is another overly acclaimed work from two of the most overrated directors.

A Serious Man is another very overrated work from two very overrated directors. It has its intriguing moments, the prologue is very interesting and the premise is actually quite fascinating, but the Coen brothers wasted such a great premise on such a poor execution with far from great performances and an unfortunate lack of focus plus there is no point to it whatsoever.

My Rating – 3

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