Coen brot hers lose the plot; a serious man (15) HHH.

Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed Plot: There isn't much of a one.

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have taken a rather strange turn with their latest film, which is set in 1967 and firmly rooted in their Jewish heritage.

It meanders along, following physics professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg) as he suffers a kind of midlife crisis. His wife announces she wants a divorce, just as his son celebrates his bar mitzvah and he might be given tenure at his university - as long as a student, upset at failing an exam, stops causing trouble. As people die and his brother (Kind) gets arrested, he seeks help from his rabbis.

Good points: It's watchable, occasionally amusing and well-performed by an unstarry cast of unknowns - this is a world away from the Coens' last film, Burn Af GI fter Reading, which featured eorge Clooney and Brad Pitt. t's stylishly shot with typical oen touches and, if you're in he mood, you might enjoy its rofound and puzzling questions f faith, mortality and Judaism. d points: The plot, such as it is, nfolds at a leisurely pace yet we on't really get to know the charcters.

t Co th pr of Bad un do ac rin There are odd red herngs, like the prologue which doesn't fit with the rest of the film. And the frustrating ending is as annoying as the one in No Country For Old Men. It's not as tense as that film or as humorous as Burn After Reading, leaving it in a limbo which will probably lead to disappointment. Should I see it?: Maybe, especially if you're a Coens' fan, but be prepared to be patient and baffled.

CAPTION(S):

The Coens tackle the big questions in a puzzle of a picture