From Blood Simple to Barton Fink to Fargo and The Big Lebowski, Joel and Ethan Coen have been masters of eccentric storytelling and their latest -- O Brother, Where Art Thou? -- is no exception. Based on Homer's Odyssey, no less, it follows the bizarrely ragtag adventures of three escaped convicts who fled a Depression-era Mississippi chain gang. The end of their particular rainbow is presumed to be a fortune hidden by Ulysses Everett McGill (…showed first 75 words of 447 total…

…showed last 75 words of 447 total…his actions late in the film. Consequently, they don't pull the viewer into the film. Even Clooney's Ulysses, with his hairnets and his neverending quest for a can of Dapper Dan's Pomade to grease his locks, is not exactly compelling. Still, one has to give Clooney a lot of credit for tackling a role that's goofily far afield from his recent leading-man roles; he seems to be aping Clark Gable in It Happened One Night.