George Clooney Delivers His Best Role In This Comedy Classic On Hulu
For comedic greats the Coen brothers rarely get it wrong, and with their 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, they struck satirical gold. George Clooney is at his best, and John Torturo and the rest of the supporting cast put their acting chops on full display. If you’ve seen the movie, it’s time to rewatch it again. And if you haven’t, fire up your Hulu app, get your popcorn, and settle in for cinematic greatness.
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The focus of O Brother, Where Art Thou? is on three prison convicts on a chain gang in rural Mississippi in 1937. Pete (Torturo), Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson), and Ulysses Everett McGill (Clooney) escape the prison at the beginning of the film at the urging of Everett. You see, George Clooney is at his best as Everett tells his buddies that there’s a treasure to be found at an old cabin, so the crew sets off to find it.
Crazy Things Happen Along The Way
Along the way, the escaped convicts of O Brother Where Art Thou? encounter a blind man who gives them a prophecy, a young black man named Tommy who says he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for skills on the guitar, and a violent outlaw named Baby Face Nelson, played convincingly by Michael Badalucco.
While with Nelson, the convicts find themselves in a fire fight between the outlaw and the police, with Nelson firing his Tommy gun wildly while driving the car and cackling madly and George Clooney gives us his best comedic output.
A Different Kind Of Movie
As O Brother, Where Art Thou? continues, the three men, alone once more, come upon three lovely women doing their washing in a stream and singing a siren song of sorts, with the acapella music flowing at once mysteriously and melodically through the woods.
The women serve the men corn whiskey, and the men proceed to pass out, only to awaken and find Pete has seemingly been turned into a toad.
The George Clooney scene I love best in this film is him rising to ask, “how’s my hair???”
Mishaps And Hijinks
Everett and Delmar make progress on their adventure in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, meeting a one-eyed man and coming up against the Ku Klux Klan, all while desperately dodging the sheriff who is relentlessly pursuing them.
The mishaps, hijinks, and near-scrapes are hilarious and thrilling, keeping the audience wondering what on earth could possibly happen next. Well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out, but it is without a doubt George Clooney at his hilarious best.
Best Coen Brothers Movie
O Brother, Where Art Thou? may not be the best film the Coen brothers have ever made. After all, we’re talking about the men we have to thank for No Country for Old Men, Fargo, and The Big Lebowski.
But it is up there among their greatest. I think my favorite part of this film is the music, which is true to the folk music of the time.
And the song the convicts recorded with Tommy as The Soggy Bottom Boys, “Man of Constant Sorrow,” is George Clooney at his best. It still plays in my head more than twenty years since I first heard it. Indeed, the soundtrack for the film won a grammy award for best album of the year.
Streaming O Brother, Where Art Thou?
REVIEW SCORE
This was also the first time I had seen George Clooney play the best goofy, satirical character, and it was so much fun.
His facial expressions are everything, and his embodiment of a Ulysses-like character is superb.
The Coen brothers drop several Homerian references into this film, including the sirens and the cyclops, and turn what could have been a crime drama into an epic odyssey to be remembered for centuries to come.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? deserves the highest praise for story, direction, acting, and humor. I give it 5 stars out of 5 and encourage you to stream it on Hulu the next chance you get.
