Based loosely on the story of the Odyssey by Homer, Three prison in mates escape from jail in pursuit of an unknown treasure somewhere in Mississippi. However Everett (George Clooney), Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) are in for one hell of an adventure on their run from the law. On their journey these three friends will meet Sirens, Cyclopses, friends, foes and a whole mess of trouble before they find their end.
The trouble with the Coen's is that they tend to make one good film, one not so good film, usually in that order. True Grit = good, Burn after Reading = bad, Big Lebowski = good and so on. However this film just barely crosses the boundary of a good film. The story is very clever, filled with heart warming bro-mance, randomly funny comedy and many moments of excitement and action. The films editing (done by the Coen's and Tricia Cooke) is exceedingly clever, doing many interesting things with colour through out. The music is incredibly enjoyable (for all those secret country fans out there) and the casts performance only adds to the entertainment.
However there are several things about this film that let it down. For one thing it is far too long: all the moments of excitement and humour are spaced out in the telling and the result is that the story drags on a bit. Also the message that the concept of this film is based on Homer's famous story is a bit hard to believe, although there are several moments when it becomes apparent. And there are moments when the dialogue become hard to understand and hear, a problem that often comes up in the Coen Brothers films.
In the end though, O' Brother Where art Thou? can certainly be classed as a 'good' Coen work and it's highly worth a watch.
