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Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job; his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome houseguest. But both Arthur and Larry get turfed out to a motel when Larrys wife Judy, who wants a divorce, moves her lover Sy into the house and even after Sys death in a car crash they are still there. With lawyers bills mounting for his divorce, Arthurs criminal court appearances, and a land feud with a neighbor, Larry is tempted to take the bribe offered by a student to give him an illegal exam pass mark. And the rabbis he visits for advice only dole out platitudes. Still God moves in mysterious--and not always pleasant--ways, as Larry and his family will find out.
1967. Mild-mannered Larry Gopnik, living in suburban Minneapolis with his wife Judith and their two children, teenage Sarah and preteen Danny, is a Physics professor at a local college. Larry lets life wash over him, especially as it has not placed any major bumps along the way, with a few upcoming perks being that he is on a tenure track, the decision to be made soon, the deliberation by the tenure committee which he is assured is only a formality, and Danny will soon have his bar mitzvah. Minor bumps include Sarah and Danny constantly being at each others throats, especially about money, all three of his family members treating him more as a fixture than a husband or father, and his unemployed mathematician brother Arthur living with them, sleeping on the sofa in their already-crowded house. Larry doesnt realize that Danny is more interested in listening to and smoking weed than he is in his Hebrew studies for the bar mitzvah. Larry believes that his Jewish faith will keep him safe. However, things slowly go off the rails for Larry. Judith falls in love with their mutual friend, effete widower Sy Ableman, and asks for a divorce; she wants absolutely everything in the settlement, leaving Larry in a financial bind. Larry is having problems with a South Korean exchange student named Clive, who might be bribing him for a passing grade. Although he is further assured that they are not an issue, he learns that someone is sending poison-pen letters about him to the tenure committee, most probably Clive in what seems to be his campaign to get a good grade or else. Their neighbor Brandt is slowly encroaching on their property. Someone has signed him up with the Columbia House record club which is now hounding him to pay for records he never ordered or received. Arthur get into some problems with the law. One distraction are his new neighbors, the Samskys; voluptuous Mrs. Samsky has a penchant for sunbathing nude in their back yard. Larry looks for some answers to all these problems, especially from his faith. He wants to speak most specifically to Rabbi Marshak, the senior rabbi at his synagogue, who is now more a figurehead, so even trying to see him is difficult.
Michael Stuhlbarg
Larry Gopnik
Richard Kind
Uncle Arthur
Sari Lennick
Judith Gopnik
Fred Melamed
Sy Ableman
Aaron Wolff
Danny Gopnik
Jessica McManus
Sarah Gopnik
Peter Breitmayer
Mr. Brandt
Brent Braunschweig
Mitch Brandt
David Kang
Clive Park
Benjamin Portnoe
Danny's Reefer Buddy
Jack Swiler
Boy on Bus
Andrew S. Lentz
Cursing Boy on Bus
Jon Kaminski Jr.
Mike Fagle
Ari Hoptman
Arlen Finkle
Alan Mandell
Rabbi Marshak
Amy Landecker
Mrs. Samsky
George Wyner
Rabbi Nachtner
Michael Tezla
Dr. Sussman
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