O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Take Ulysses from Homer's Odyssey, turn him into a dusty but peculiarly dapper hillbilly escaped from a Mississippi chain gang, circa 1937, with a couple half-witted pals, and whaddaya got? Only the funniest, most inspired movie of the Coen Brothers' illustrious comedy careers. The writing-directing siblings cook up a masterpiece of a scruffy, old-fashioned Hollywood romp about a no-class fugitive (a slick-but-dumb George Clooney) trying to get home to his wife (Holly Hunter) before she's re-married to a colorless, straw-hatted dandy. Clooney gives a brilliantly jaunty performance that channels both the roguish comedic charm of Clark Gable and the earnest zaniness of Cary Grant as he leads fellow fugitives John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson on a hilarious state-crossing adventure that includes a Ku Klux Klan musical number, a bank heist with Baby Face Nelson, a crooked governor's race, and sirens of both varieties (melodious nymphet and police car). The Coens' pure genius for lifestyle caricature reaches a mirthful zenith in this, my favorite movie of 2000. Editor's Choice. (R. Blackwelder)