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2. "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (2000): We knew George Clooney was funny, we knew he exuded Old Hollywood glamour and we knew he'd work wonderfully in a Coen brothers picture. But we had no idea he'd be this amazingly impressive in a role that's essentially a character part... more for a leading man ... who wears a hairnet. A wild work of hillbilly burlesque that split many critics, Joel and Ethan Coen's "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" moves Homer's Odyssey (the comic-book version of it anyway) to Depression-era Mississippi replete with the sounds of classic bluegrass music, time-honored fables (such as the story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil at a crossroads) and, again, Clooney wearing a hairnet. As the garrulous Ulysses Everett McGill, a man sent to jail for practicing law without a license, a Clark Gable mustachioed Clooney, along with fellow chain-gang escapees played by John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, sets out on a Southern-fried road trip that conveys a gorgeous, touching celebration of a dauntless American spirit while also being goofily critical of it. Clooney plays his character daringly and one step over the line as he mugs, bugs his eyes and spouts big words ("I'm the damn paterfamilias!") while maintaining a surprising poignancy that makes you actually care what happens to him. To be this energetic and perfectly timed can't be easy for most actors, but Clooney's performance is effortlessly madcap and uniquely inspiring. (Buena Vista Pictures)