A Serious Man fingerprintFunny, immersive world, light on feelings.
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Melancholic
Much of it is about family.
Some situational comedy and sharp wit
Not a comedy at heart.
Family, the mind, and class and money
Standout direction, performances, and storytelling
Layered plot that rewards full attention.
Functional look and sound
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
A Serious Man is tense. The story builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Melancholic
Much of it is about family.
Emotionally, it's melancholic. Much of it is about family.
Some situational comedy and sharp wit
Not a comedy at heart.
Expect some situational comedy and sharp wit.
Family, the mind, and class and money
Its world is built around family, the mind, and class and money. It leaves some questions open.
Standout direction, performances, and storytelling
Layered plot that rewards full attention.
The direction, performances, and storytelling stand out. The plot is layered and rewards full attention.
Based on the GoodWatch fingerprint: our scores for 70+ attributes of every movie. Select a row to see all of them.
Accept mystery.
Overall: Similar vibe.
Quick answers from GoodWatch data.
A Serious Man is included with a subscription to Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Prime Video with Ads in the United States. You can also rent or buy it from Apple TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Google Play Movies. All links in Where to Watch go to these licensed services.
Mostly. It's well received, with a GoodWatch score of 79/100 (IMDb 7, Rotten Tomatoes 89%, and Metacritic 88). The GoodWatch score combines critic and audience ratings.
It's rated R in the United States. Content advisories: strong language.
1 h 46 min
A Serious Man runs 1 h 46 min.
Not quite. Critics rate A Serious Man higher (89) than audiences (70). It may be more rewarding than it is crowd-pleasing.
Yes. It cost about $7 million to make and earned $31 million worldwide, 4.5 times its budget.
It was made in English, with some Hebrew, Yiddish, Italian. Produced in United States, United Kingdom, France.
+50GoodWatch finds legal streaming, rental, or purchase options for A Serious Man in 64 countries. Pick any of them in Where to Watch to see the local services.
TV Tropes lists 88 storytelling tropes for A Serious Man, including From Bad to Worse, Butt-Monkey, Disproportionate Retribution.
7.0
