"No Jews were hurt in the making of this motion picture," reads the disclaimer at the end of the Coen brothers' new feature A Serious Man.
Tell that to Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) who, like his biblical predecessor Job, finds himself beset by a series of misfortunes he certainly doesn't seem to deserve. His family and professional life are coming apart at the seams for no apparent reason. Although he has a hard time appreciating it, the comedy comes from the contrast between his painfully serious persona and the sheer absurdity of everything that is thrown at him (a son addicted to pot and F-Troop, anonymous attacks on his job from a poison-pen letter writer, etc., etc.).
Ultimately though, it was not God who designed all the indignities he faces. It was the directors. And they apparently had a good time doing it. Ethan Cohen confesses to the New York Times that:
For us, the fun was inventing new ways to torment Larry.
So, what this serious man gets for all his troubles is not so much answers, but a divine sense of humor.