Having scored a commercial success last season with Ethan Coen's trio of one-acts Almost an Evening, the Atlantic Theater Company has unsurprisingly staged the Oscar-winning filmmaker's sophomore attempt, Offices. And without question, this triptych of plays (which runs a total of 80 minutes) is a more accomplished and consistently amusing effort than Coen's prior work -- even if they don't linger in the mind long after one walks out the door.

While not connected in any non-thematic way, the three works all follow a kind of formula in focusing on a central character's dilemma, meandering through some quirky and often funny diversions, and then essentially petering out at the end with a gent[...]