Larry Gopnik
A mathematics professor whose domestic, financial, and professional lives are all unraveling. While the Coens used some elements of their father in creating Larry, he's in the main based on the title character from
Book of Job- Butt-Monkey: For most of the movie's length gets less than zero respect.
- Expy: For Job, as noted. Made to suffer in order to teach a lesson that remains inscrutable.
- Jewish and Nerdy: Very much a brainiac, but with all the implied difficulty with social interactions as well.
- Nervous Wreck: Quickly starts to become one when his life comes apart.
- No Social Skills: Tends to fly off the handle, but no one takes him seriously when he does.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: When his difficulties seem to be over, he changes Clive Park's grade, compromising his personal and professional ethics. Soon after he gets an ominous call from the doctor and his son is in the crosshairs of a tornado.
Judith Gopnik
Played by: Sari Lennick
- Satellite Love Interest: Intentional, deconstructed version. It's impossible to tell what she's thinking, but she tends to copy whatever man she's with. In one scene she and Sy Ableman sit side-by-side wearing almost identical plaid shirts
Sy Ableman
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Sy seems calm, polite and seems reasonable but he was sending regular letters to the school to insist Larry shouldn't be given tenure.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's courteous, even somewhat gushing, to everyone he deals with. Larry dreams about getting beaten up by him, though, and his goals are selfish at best and malign at worst.
- Karmic Death: He and Larry are both involved in separate traffic accidents. Larry survives, but Sy doesn't. Outside of having to pay for his funeral, Larry's dealings with him seem blessedly closed.
- Kavorka Man: He's an overweight middle aged man, but seems to have no difficulty taking up with Larry's attractive wife.
- Manipulative Bastard: His verbal skills and surface friendliness ensure that other characters will do and think exactly what he wants them to.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Despite his evident determination to take whatever he wants from other people - mostly Larry - he has everyone else thinking that he's the nicest man in the world.
Arthur Gopnik
- Broken Tears: His biggest emotional reaction in the film is running out into the yard dressed only in his skivvies to weep and wail.
- It's All About Me: Watching his brother lose his wife, get harassed by the Columbia Record Club, and face difficulties on the job, he can still only seethe about how much better that brother is doing than he is.
- Ungrateful Bastard: He's also living in Larry's house and entirely dependent on his hospitality.
Danny Gopnik
Played by: Aaron Wolff
- Aesop Collateral Damage: The movie cuts off before his fate is revealed, but he is endangered by the tornado after his father fraudulently raises Clive's grade.
- The Stoner: He wants to be one, at least. He spends most of the movie looking for pot.
- Strict Parents Make Sneaky Kids: Aside from the furtive search for marijuana, it's pretty clear that he's the one who's actually been ordering from Columbia Record Club while his dad gets the collectors on his back.
Sarah Gopnik:
Played by: Jessica McManus
- Expy: Of Jane Burnham from American Beauty. Both are pretty teenagers who want to get plastic surgery they don't need - in this case a nose job instead of a boob job - and have their parents pay for it.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Gets a lot of F-bombs off, mostly aimed at her brother.
Rabbi Marshak:
Played by: Alan Mandell
- Cool Old Guy: If you're a teenager in 1967 and your septuagenarian (at the very least) rabbi can dig Jefferson Airplane, shul just got a lot more interesting.
- Suddenly Voiced: Only makes brief, silent appearances until his pre-Bar Mitzvah confab with Danny.
- The Wonka: His apparent flakiness doesn't keep him from running his synagogue effectively. Although maybe he should have made some time for Larry as well.
