One to Watch: “A Serious Man”

The fact that Coen brothers’ movies still get touted as “black comedies” gives me a chuckle. Make that a guffaw. Which spirals into uncontrolled hysterical laughter followed by a whimper. I mean, this is the same word people used to describe “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” and it starred Kirstie Alley. These two movies are on the same plain? Really?

Eh, I digress. The point is, the trailer looks fantastic and every inch like a return to form for the Coens after the somewhat disappointing “Burn After Reading.” Could “A Serious Man” be “Blood Simple” for the 21st-century? I swoon at the thought. With the Coens, it’s hard to tell if you’re going to get a masterpiece or “The Ladykillers.” The fact that the brothers are using a cast of relative (Paul Lassiter from “Spin City”!) to total (Michael Stuhlbarg, who has been lead actor in, uh, nothing) unknowns could be great or terrible. That’s the twisted ball of magic that is a Coen brothers movie.