Does have its delicious moments and Michael Stuhlbarg does give an excellent, exasperated, frazzled lead performance... But without any warmth or expansiveness it all seems too cruelly easy and shrivelling somehow.

The entire script is a mishmash: funny, droll, and anxiety producing, just like daily life in many Jewish families.

See this movie for a good laugh, and know that no matter what's going on in your life, A Serious Man proves things can certainly get worse.

With “A Serious Man,” Joel and Ethan Coen reached back into their past and deep into their souls to deliver something so personal that it could only become universal.