A Serious Man is an amusing and entertaining film. The life of the main character comes apart in a comically mundane way: his 1950s dreamworld becomes a normal one. The performance by the lead is a memorable one. What's funny is his anti-Stoic and increasingly histrionic reactions and protests to what he believes is just not supposed to happen to him. "But I didn't do anything!" We follow his quest for meaning in a world that is not nice to him! The filmmaking is of excellent quality, as one would expect from a Coen Brothers film, though it is different and has more a Wes Andersen feeling to it. The 1950s setting has a quirky and humorous vibe to it, which the cast make happen by having the audacity to live as though in it, in all seriousness. A Serious Man watches best for those who can "accept the mystery" on a first viewing (and it does work fine as a comedy), and then go back and watch it again to get the meaning of the story.

4.25 / 5.0