by Chuck on Thu Feb 15, 2001 2:53 am
First let me qualify this by saying I'm a BIG BIG BIG Coen bros. fan. Loved everything from Blood Simple to Millers Crossing to raising Arizona etc. Not that saying that makes the following opinion any more valid, but there it is. And here's the opinion....<P>I think "O Brother" is their worst work to date. While a bad Coen flick is better than most any other pic you're likely to see, save you 7 bucks. The film is horribly unfocused. The quirky characters are dull by Coen standards. Unless you've read Homer's Odysse, you'll miss half the references (I did.) John Goodman has one lousy scene and one awesome scene. The dialog is an attempt to emulate the fast talking comedy of Preston Sturges, which they nailed in Hudsucker Proxy but miss horribly here. (the redeeming factor is the soundtrack which is way cool depresion era folk county.)<P>Go see "the Emporer's New Groove." Honest. It's fast, clever, self referencing, hilarious, well animated, smart, non-standard Disney humor, and under appreciated thus far.<P>--Okay.. let me see if I can get down from this detergent box with out breaking my neck... ---chuck