This movie is old fashioned fun. Crime, music, adventure, a large deal of Dapper Dan hair care products, it's all here.
Placed in the late 1930s, this movie was loosely based on the the story "The Oddessey" by Homer. Following the trek of three men who happened to get chained together in a chain gang, Ulysses Everett McGill (George Clooney), who goes by Everett in the movie, Delmar O'Donnell (Tim Blake Nelson), and Pete, (yes, just Pete. played by John Turturro), escape from their chain gang to look for the buried treasure of Everett in an old lake bed, which Everett supposedly got from knocking off an armored car, which landed him in said chain gang.
In reality, Everett was nailed for practicing law without a license, (lame reason to be in a chain gang) and needed to get back to his home town to save his wife from marrying another man, and had to formulate a plan to get the other two guys to follow along with him. Along the way he's a quick talkin', "Dapper Dan" type guy, who is incessantly obsessing with his hair, waking with a start several times in the movie, his first words are, "How's my hair!?" Sounds like a pretty solid plan, right? The path of these men isn't quite as smooth as George Clooney made it sound...
Their road to success isn't paved with the smoothest of asphalt. They run into quite a few problems along the way. They knock off a few banks with "Baby Face"... i mean George Nelson, who leaves them a good sum of money, which they get promptly stolen from them from "BIG DAN", a supposed Bible salesman, who they encounter later. at a giant KKK rally. But don't worry, they crush him with a giant flaming cross. But before the giant flaming cross fiasco, they come across a black man named Tommy Johnson, who has sold his soul to the devil for some guitar talent. They cut a record at a local radio station as the "Soggy Bottom Boys" for a quick ten bucks each, and quickly become extremely famous across Mississippi, but no one knows who they are, because the only person there was the blind operator of the radio station. Later in the movie they cut into a packed concert hall so Everett can talk to his wife, but have to pretend to be a band to get in. So they become the "Soggy Bottom Boys" once again, and a few songs and a good deal of silly dancing later, they get a full pardon from the governor of the state of Mississippi. One more quick "act of God" and the movie's done, with an ending that leaves some loose ends, but ends that the movie goer can easily tie up with their imagination.
I loved this movie. it was good old fashioned fun, with some great acting and fantastic story writing, this movie was everything i like in a movie, short of a few good explosions. It was well done, but the background was nearly nonexistent. That may have not necessarily been a bad thing, though. It made you wonder throughout, and kept you thinking. I may have enjoyed the first hour of the movie slightly more, had i not been extremely distracted by where i recognized the actor who played Pete was from. (don't worry, i figured it out. The butler in "Mr. Deeds".)
Not so much of an intelligent movie, it wasn't dumb action either. Anyone can enjoy this type of movie. It's usually subtle humor and interesting plot kept you entertained with no problem.
Overall Rating: 8.3 out of 10.0
Categories: "Good Old Fashioned Fun" "Intelligent, But Not Too Much" "All Around Good Movie"
