O Brother, Where Art Thou review: Original, unusual and entertaining

An odyssey full of surprises

It's 1937, and three convicts escape from a southern chain gang. Ulysses (George Clooney) is a vain, fast talking philosopher who models himself after Clark Gable; Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) are his not so bright offsiders. Ulysses claims to know where a stash of money is hidden, and the ungainly trio set off in search of fortune as well as freedom, along the way encountering a clutch of colorful characters, including a bank robber, a musician, a one-eyed bible salesman (John Goodman), and an old-time politician (Charles Durning). In fact, their odyssey is full of surprises.

The Coen Brothers delightful new film is derived from The Odyssey but its title is a cinematic reference – it's the name of the film pitched by comedy director John Sullivan, Joel McCrea, to a couple of unenthusiastic studio heads in Preston Sturges' famous comedy, Sullivan's Travels. O' Brother Where Art Thou? isn't consistently hilarious, but it's so original, so well acted by all concerned, and so inventive – a Ku Klux Klan rally makes for an impressive set-piece – and so beautifully made that it's a constant delight. The three leads give wonderful performances – but everyone's good, including Holly Hunter as Ulysses' long-lost wife. And Roger Deakins' widescreen photography, with its unusual colour pallette, is a constant joy.