# Who Found "Oh Brother Where Art Though?" Hilarious? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 31, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348 "2001-07-31T16:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/61 "2001-08-03T04:11:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TV time \* > \*\* > > No, no, no and who? > > So if you like teen films-like Jim Carry’s “Ace Ventura” or “Dumb and Dumber”, you probably are not going to like this one. \*\* The Young Ones was/is a british cult favorite- lots of “gross” and “dumb” humor. I wouldn’t classify Jim Carey’s movies at “teen” but “terrible” is a good label; sad, he was so funny on In Living Color. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/62 "2001-08-03T20:09:46Z")
I appear to be the only person in the known Universe to have spotted the fact that the scene with them in the hayloft is the part of the Odyssey with Scylla and Charybdis, the nine-headed dragon and whirlpool. That’s why he keeps saying “we’re in a tight spot”; saying “we’re between Scylla and Charybdis” is a William F Buckley-esque way of saying the same thing. And I’ll note that there were nine men standing outside the barn (8 cops and the relative that turned them in). The movie merged a few of the sub-stories from the Odyssey together. I got the impression Clooney sat there while the cyclops walloped his friend because he was a lotus-eater. They were out in a nice, quiet field, having a picnic. See? ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/63 "2001-08-03T20:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > So if you like teen films-like Jim Carry’s “Ace Ventura” or “Dumb and Dumber”, you probably are not going to like this one Not necessarily true. I loved _O Brother_, but _Ace Ventura_ is one of my all-time favorite films. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/64 "2001-08-03T21:37:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\* > Three Stooges > The Austin Powers movies > The Ace Ventura movies > The Young Ones series > \*\* No. The second one. The first one. Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2001, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/65 "2001-08-03T22:24:55Z")
Hey **Bad Astronomer** – let me congratulate you on an excellent reading of an otherwise innocuous scene. I missed it when I saw the movie, but I read it someplace else (maybe on these boards; don’t remember), and it struck me as being right on the money. ---
**Author:** ![LaToyota\_Corolla\_Falana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@LaToyota\_Corolla\_Falana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LaToyota_Corolla_Falana)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/66 "2001-08-04T02:14:53Z")
Oh brother, where in the 'tire nation is nobody raising no mention of that great classic Coen Bros. movie by the certain name of Raising Arizona. Come on like don’t you got “…when we was poor, we ate sand.” on yer favorites list of all time sayings? I really like the Soggy Bottom Boys and their mostly missing chins (excepting for Mr. Dapper Dan Clooney’s most excellently masculine chin). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/67 "2001-08-04T05:16:36Z")
Me! Me me me me meee! I loved it! The soundtrack has become my highway crusin’ music. ---
**Author:** ![mongrel\_8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@mongrel\_8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mongrel_8)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/68 "2001-08-06T17:26:10Z")
It would be my luck to be on vacation when this thread gets started, especially because I thought about starting one after I saw it. I absolutely loved this movie. It was very funny and charming. I like movies that are allusions to some other work so I loved the the Odyssey aspect of it. Although something that I have wondered about is the man with the dark glasses and the hounds that was chasing them supposed to be an allusion from the Odyssey? ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/69 "2001-08-06T18:15:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mongrel\_8 \* > It would be my luck to be on vacation when this thread gets started, especially because I thought about starting one after I saw it. All I have to say in Na nana nana. 😉 > [@](#): > > Although something that I have wondered about is the man with the dark glasses and the hounds that was chasing them supposed to be an allusion from the Odyssey? I think this was a tribute to “Cool Hand Luke” not Odyssey but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/70 "2001-09-07T20:16:06Z")
We rented it from NetFlix and saw it last night. Mr. Pug and I both loved it, movie and soundtrack. I had put the movie CD in the office mail to return it to NetFlix, but on reading this thread, I’m getting the itch to watch it again. That’s it – I’m rescuing it out of the mail and taking it back home to watch this weekend! So you guys say The Big Lebowski was just as good? Damn! Never saw it! That’ll go in our queue. Style and humor-wise, I’d compare it more to a Pogo comic strip than to any of the movies elfkin477 mentioned. In fact, I’m hoping Bumbazine opens this thread, because I’d like to see if he watched Brother and found it as funny as I did. Sometimes it almost felt like Walt Kelly could have written those lines. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/71 "2001-09-07T21:08:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by obfusciatrist \* > \*\*Fabulous? Yes. > Hilarious? No. I dont think I laughed out loud once. > Amusing? Absolutely. \*\* I concur. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\*\ > Ok, I’m still reading the rave reviews, and I’m still undecided if I should rent it or not. Help me out folks. Those of you who loved it, do you also find these funny too? > Three Stooges > The Austin Powers movies > The Ace Ventura movies > The Young Ones series > > Because if you do, I’m sure I’m not renting it. > \ \*\* No. Saw the first one, cute and watchable but that’s about it. Ditto. Never heard of 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2001, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348/72 "2001-09-07T21:28:23Z")
Hi **Pugluver!** As a matter of fact, we rented the video a few weeks ago and liked it very much. We thought it was _better_ than The Big Lebowski. I hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned it, but our three heros _were_ a lot like Kelly’s creations; naive and slightly, sometimes wildly, off-kilter. It would have been easy to go for the quick laugh by making them objects of ridicule instead of sympathetic characters, but the Coens’ humor, like Kelly’s, was always good-natured and never condescending. The only problem I had with with the movie was the relentless sepia-tone. After awhile I just wanted something, anything, to be GREEN! Is that so _wrong?_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-found-oh-brother-where-art-though-hilarious/74348.md?page=3)