I was thinking about actors who so embodied the role that you forgot the actual actor. The first that immediately came to mind was George Clooney in the Coen Brother’s Academy Award Nominated film –“Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”

George Clooney

Normally my reaction to Clooney is, “wow, he’s so fine!” But, as Ulysses Everett McGill I didn’t ever think about the “fine” George Clooney but instead was mesmerized and cracking up with laughter at lines like “my hair”. Ulysses is a Dapper Dan hair pomade man. (totally obsessed with his hair)

I had no idea he was so freakin’ funny! Who knew? He usually plays fine, hot, strong characters but this time, he went all the way out the box with this incredible performance.

One of my favorite scenes is when he’s at a political benefit concert with his “band” the Soggy Bottom Boys and becomes engrossed in conversation trying to convince his ex-wife (Holly Hunter) to give him a second chance. Just when he is just about to reel her in, he hears the opening line to his (unbeknownst to him) hit song “Constant Sorrow”and without hesitation is back at the mike and crushing it. A man after my own heart. (I’m a community theater veteran:)

Produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning in supporting roles. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film’s story is a modern satire loosely based on Homer’s epic poem, Odyssey. The title of the film is a reference to the 1941 film Sullivan’s Travels, in which the protagonist (a director) wants to film a fictional book about the Great Depression called O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Wikipedia)

The film is brilliant and all the actor’s performances are remarkable! “Oh, Brother Where Art Thou” is a dark comedy whose themes touch on poverty, politics and racism. I give it – both thumbs way up.