Fans of Joel and Ethan Coen rejoice: They've made their stoniest movie since The Big Lebowski. Set in late '60s Minnesota, A Serious Man, is about a troubled Jewish family. When the movie's youngest protagonist, 13-year-old Danny (Aaron Wolff), smokes a joint before his bar mitzvah, he delivers the highest haftorah in film history.
In fact, Danny's marijuana use is a running gag in the movie. He owes Fagle (John Kaminski Jr.) $20 for a bag of weed and smokes regularly with his "Reefer Buddy" (Benjamin Portnoe). Danny almost freezes as he begins his torah portion, but then thankfully rises to the occasion, becoming a man in Jewish tradition.
Danny's dad Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg, left) has problems. His wife Judith (Sari Lennick) is seeing another man, his brother Arthur (Richard Kind) suffers from schizophrenia and a student Clive (David Kang) confronts him over a failing grade.
Larry finds solace with sexy next-door neighbor Mrs. Samsky (Amy Landecker), who likes to play when her husband's away. "Do you take advantage of the new freedoms?" she asks as she lights a joint. They smoke and get pleasantly buzzed while the record player skips. It's a nice touch.
The movie's full of nice period touches, such as the use of Jefferson Airplane songs ("Somebody to Love" is the theme song), Danny's fondness for transistor radios, F Troop and the Columbia Record Club, and Rabbi Marshak's hilarious recitation of the song's lyrics ("When the truth is found to be lies...")
A Serious Man joins Gregg Mottola's '80s movie Adventureland as one of the best pictures of 2009.
