New in Town (2009)

“New in Town” is one of those dreadful rom-coms about the hoity-toity career-track city gal (Renee Zellweger) who is sent by her bosses to live with country bumpkins in Small Town, USA, for some obscure job task. She hates the town and locals. But then – big shocker -- she falls in love and stays. This is set in rural, dead-of-winter Minnesota, so it plays more like a rom-com version of “Fargo” without the body count, wit, etc. And who ever asked for that? The local folks talk funny, say “darn tootin” a whole bunch, ask strangers if they’ve found Jesus yet, and ice fish. And darn anyone who makes fun of these proud Americans. But the filmmakers do exactly that. (Personal note: One day I’d love to see a film like this end with the city slicker giving middle fingers to the townies, and jetting out for home.) Zellwegger has zip personality here. Shove this film in the wood chipper and hit “Start.” D

A Serious Man (2009)

The title is almost off-putting: “A Serious Man.” It sounds terribly depressing, right? But this dark, tiny thinker of a comedy is the Coen Brothers’ razor sharp version of Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.”

Here a 1967 Midwest Jewish physics professor named Larry Gopnick (Michael Stuhlbarg) stands in the middle of life’s highway as misfortunes run him down one truck after another. Larry’s wife wants a divorce so she can marry a widower named Sy, who in turn wants to be Larry’s BFF. Larry’s son is smoking pot and considers not getting a clear picture for “F Troop” an emergency. Larry’s freak brother is gambling and dabbling in illegal sex. Larry is up for tenure. The hits keep coming, and as our hero cracks, the Coens ask “What does it all mean?” and “What is God’s will? Does He even have a will?”

Don’t expect safe answers from the men who gave us “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men.” (One rabbi insists life’s answers are in the parking lot. Another flatly says there are none. Both scenes are priceless.) An actor not known in Hollywood circles, Stuhlbarg is brilliant in the lead role.

The final scenes are jaw-dropping cruel stunts that only the Coens can get away with. They hit the viewer like an unforgiving truck. A-

A Simple Plan (1998)

Between making the wonderfully sick “Evil Dead” films and three mixed-bag “Spider-Man” flicks, Sam Raimi made “A Simple Plan,” a supremely dark morality tale that could be the dead serious cousin to dark comedy “Fargo.” Both are set in a frozen white America where bodies stack higher than snow. Here, two estranged brothers (Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton) and the one’s slovenly friend (Brent Briscoe) stumble upon a downed plane in the snowy woods of Minnesota. Inside the plane are a dead body and a duffel bag with $4 million in cash. The bag is opened, and lines are drawn. Guns, too. The trick of Raimi’s direction and Scott B. Smith’s screenplay (based on his own great book) is painting the loveless Jacob (Thornton, amazing) as the only person of conscious, and high-lighting just how far brothers can stray from one another. The dark thrill of “Plan” lies in watching just what pains people –- family -- will inflict on one another for wealth, while justifying every action. Money trumps blood, every time. A