Man, where's the Barton Fink, love? Huh? C'mon it's got John Mahoney as W.P. Mayhew the Faux-Faulkner. John Goodman's "I'll show you the life of the mind!" Steve Buscemi in a bellhop hat! Judy Davis as the ultimate writer's muse / copyeditor / ghostwriter / wet dream (a role she also played perfectly in Naked Lunch. More Judy Davis more of the time, please.) Turturro's Faux-Odets poetic working man dialogue. Michael Lerner and Tony Shaloub. The hotel inspiration for the Hyperion.

I love Barton Fink. Though I also love Raising Arizona, O Brother, Lebowski and Miller's Crossing.

Coens are very hit or miss with me. BF was like 2 hours of wha? and why? that wasn't enjoyable to me. TBL was 2 hours of me wanting to slap annoying people (except it has Sam Elliott voice and that almost makes it ok).

Man, where's the Barton Fink, love? Huh?

That's a movie I admire more than enjoy. Also, it feels like it's trying too hard to be profound in a mysterious/artsy way. Makes a great double bill with THE SHINING, though.

TBL was 2 hours of me wanting to slap annoying people

I suspect the Coen's would love that description of the movie.

I love Barton Fink, too. I've even found room to raise my estimation of Fargo from my original estimation of it as the Coen's first failure to the Coen's first near-miss (from a C- to a B-, if you will). I think the worst of the bunch is Intolerable Cruelty, but I still haven't been able to convince myself to watch The Ladykillers.

Also, it feels like it's trying too hard to be profound in a mysterious/artsy way.

My problem with many of their movies. OK, I admit it, I enjoyed watching TBL, Fargo & Blood Simple; I really admired Miller's Crossing; but I am not a Coen Fan. Nevertheless I think the love here runs too deep for me to try to cross it.

I would say Miller's Crossing.

I also loved Barton Fink. It's been too long since I've seen it.

No Oh Brother love in this group? Fargo is my favorite right this second, but either Lebowski or Fink or Oh Brother would be my favorites on another day.

I've even found room to raise my estimation of Fargo from my original estimation of it as the Coen's first failure to the Coen's first near-miss (from a C- to a B-, if you will).

Interesting. How was it a miss, in your opinion? I know a lot of people who felt it was condescending to people from that part of the country (though that accusation has been lobbed at almost every Los Bros Coen movie), but I love it because it seems to be one of their least cold-blooded movies (mainly due to Marge).

Also, it feels like it's trying too hard to be profound in a mysterious/artsy way.

My problem with many of their movies.

While sometimes I find they try too hard to be mysterious or artsy, I've rarely found it straining to be profound about anything like it was in BF. Usually, it's more like "Hey, this is a cool random idea/shot/bit-o-slang/whatev - let's do that!" IOW, BF lacked a sense of fun that is a primary reason I love the Coens' movies, and I don't think they replaced it with enough to make up for the lack.

I'd agree with Corwood, though, that INTOLERABLE CRUELTY is their weakest, followed by HUDSUCKER PROXY, where the "cool shot, etc." mentality, while still fun, was disproportionately out of control. And, also like Corwood, I haven't been able to bring myself to see LADYKILLERS (still the only Coen movie I didn't see in a movie theater). Yet.

Ladykillers is much, much worse than Intolerable Cruelty.