Every Coen Brothers Movie, Ranked From Grisly Fun to Truly Bonkers
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WHILE MANY HAVE tried, there's no imitating the films of Joel and Ethan Coen. Known informally by fans and those in the know simply as "The Coen Brothers," the Minnesota-born duo made their splashy debut in 1984 with the darkly comedic noir Blood Simple (which served as the debut film of three-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand, who would later become Joel's wife) and the rest, to put it simply, is history. For now 40 years, their films—which include modern classics like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country For Old Men—have carried an indistinguishable mix of tone and style; their ability to go from borderline terrifying tension to darkly hilarious humor within a moment's notice truly set them apart. If you're flipping through channels and find something interesting, it doesn't take more than a minute to tell a real Coen Brothers film from a pale imitation.
While the brothers are masters at combining those tones—the dark and tense, the wacky and screwy—they also are capable of going entirely one direction or the other. No Country For Old Men won them both Best Picture and Best Director for a grisly neo-Western with one of the most terrifying villains of all-time in Javier Bardem's Anton Chigurh, while movies like Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty, and Burn After Reading pushed closer to truly broad comedy. The Big Lebowski didn't land initially, but didn't take long to achieve cult status; it's got a devout fandom filled with people who are willing and able to quote any line of the movie at any given moment. Fargo was specific, dense, and, to put it simply, brilliant enough to both win Oscars and spur Noah Hawley's almost-as-brilliant FX anthology series of the same name.
In the time since The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—their first Netflix film, originally conceived as a limited series—the brothers have gone their separate ways. Joel's first solo film was Apple's The Tragedy of Macbeth, a Shakespeare adaptation starring Denzel Washington and McDormand, while Ethan's solo debut, Drive-Away Dolls, is a screwball dark comedy thriller far more in line with some of the brothers' most notable work; think Raising Arizona, think Fargo, think Burn After Reading. But while time apart may seem to spell a forboding future for our favorite pair of filmmaking siblings, don't be alarmed—the book has not been shut. Ethan recently revealed that he and his brother are working on a genre that they have yet to fully tackle (though, with Blood Simple, they came close): horror. And not just any horror, but a "true horror" that "gets very bloody." We'll just say one thing about that: hell yeah.
Until then, though, luckily, we've got 20 films in the Coen repertoire to keep watching over, and over, and over, and over again. All of these films are brilliant in their own way, and because they tend to be so distinctive, it's easy to connect personal memories, moments, and feelings to each of them; where you were when you first saw it, who you saw it with, what it made you think and feel after. And that's the great part about a Coen Brothers movie: each one won't just entertain you, but it'll make you think and feel in ways that you may not particularly have seen coming.
Here's how we rank all 18 Coen Brothers films—and both solo endeavors—to date.
The Ladykillers (2004)
Something's gotta be last! And in this case, it's The Ladykillers, the 2004 film that marked the only collaboration between Tom Hanks and Joel and Ethan. The Ladykillers isn't bad, but it centers on a plot—Hanks is a con man who plans to rob a casino by drilling through a kind old woman's basement—that calls for far more broad comedy than usual in this filmography. Hanks is joined by a strong cast that includes Marlon Wayans and JK Simmons being particularly cartoonishly wacky, along with a committed Irma P. Hall as the old woman, but something's gotta be last—and it's The Ladykillers. Still a fun watch for when you feel like a well-acted movie where you don't have to think too much, though.
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
If The Ladykillers was the Coens attempt at making a broad mid-2000s comedy, Intolerable Cruelty was their attempt at making what was perhaps the hottest genre of the decade: the rom-com. And despite what the traditional-looking poster and classically beautiful stars—George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones—might infer, Intolerable Cruelty is anything but a typical rom-com. This movie is weird its baseline, and, at times, gets even weirder; but the premise remains simple enough. Clooney plays a lawyer who hopes to help protect a client against a wife he believes is setting him up (Zeta-Jones)... only to fall for her undeniably sharp cunning ways himself. It's not quite on the level of the Coens's best, but Intolerable Cruelty is one of the weirdest rom-coms of the 2000s, in a good way.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Joel Coen's only solo directorial effort so far is The Tragedy of Macbeth, a beautifully-shot adaptation of Shakespeare's famed play that features a cast led by Denzel Washington and his wife/frequent collaborator/legend Frances McDormand. The movie has, quite literally, nothing wrong with it on a technical level—but it's missing some of the occasional humor and dark energy that we typically associate with a Coen movie. Perhaps looking at both The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ethan's solo directorial debut, Drive-Away Dolls (more on that one in a bit) can tell you where each brother's sensibilities tend to lie in their long-running and long-successful partnership.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Originally reported as a limited Netflix series and later revealed to be feature film, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an anthology-style Western, telling six different stories with six different casts over the course of its 133 minute runtimes. Those stories include both classic characters of the genre: a singing cowboy, a bank robber who finds himself on the gallows, and more eccentric moments: a story that takes place entirely in a stagecoach and a performance artists with no arms or legs. It's all very strange and while it may test your patience at times, it'll provide the right jolt of eccentrics for anyone looking for their Coen fix.
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
We now reach the portion of the list where just about every movie for the rest of the way is a masterpiece. So let's start with The Hudsucker Proxy, a classic throwback screwball comedy type of movie, much in the style of movies made in the '40s or '50s. This one features a fantastic cast of committed actors—Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Paul Newman—in a story about the invention of the hula hoop. And in one of the strangest but most-welcomed collaborations imaginable, Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, The Evil Dead, etc.) co-wrote the film with the brothers and worked as a second-unit director.
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The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
While many Coen Brothers films can be classified as "neo-noir," they took the genre on directly when they made The Man Who Wasn't There, a movie that—if it wasn't for the contemporary actors and filmmaking techniques, including cinematography by the great Roger Deakins—almost feels directly out of the era it's paying homage to. A true noir set up finds a man (Billy Bob Thornton) suspecting that his wife (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with her boss, while simultaneously another man (James Gandolfini) approaches him with a mysterious money-making scheme, leading to something all-too-common in noir: blackmail. The Man Who Wasn't There is directly inspired by the films of the true film noir era and the novels of James M. Cain—and feels like a more-than-worthy entry in the much-watched and studied genre.
Drive-Away Dolls (2024)
While Joel's solo directorial debut was a serious, visually-stunning Shakespeare adaptation, Ethan's solo directorial debut is much more in line with core Coen films like Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, and Fargo. Drive-Away Dolls finds Ethan in a collaboration with his wife, Tricia Cooke, who co-wrote and produced the film, which is about a pair of queer friends (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Visnawathan) who take a trip to Florida that, predictably, goes very wrong when they discover the contents of a briefcase that's been stowed away in the car they've rented as a one-way drive-away. Qualley and Visnawathan are so fun and have such great chemistry, and smaller roles from the likes of Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and Colman Domingo make this movie a blast to watch. And at 1 hour, 20 minutes and change, you'll be able to watch and rewatch plenty of times.
Hail, Caesar (2016)
A lot of films and shows have been made relatively recently about Old Hollywood, but the Coens' Hail, Caesar may just be the best of the bunch. The film is a true ensemble, but the de facto lead is a fixer played by Josh Brolin, who needs to navigate issues stemming from missing movie stars (George Clooney), gossip columnists (Tilda Swinton), and more. The movie features fun turns from stars like Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, and a singing, dancing, secret communist Channing Tatum—but the real breakout was Alden Ehrenreich, who absolutely owns his large role as an ascending cowboy actor.
Miller's Crossing (1990)
After making a pseudo-horror neo-noir thriller (Blood Simple) and a wacky comedy (Raising Arizona), the Coens went for a full-on crime film with their third film, Miller's Crossing. This movie follows a man (Gabriel Byrne)who has the distinct ability to pit two competing crime syndicates against one another. The movie is heavy, engaging, and intense—and perhaps most notably, marked the very first collaboration between the Coens and John Turturro, who would become one of their most prominent and wonderful stars.
Blood Simple (1984)
The Coens made their debut with flair in Blood Simple, which takes a simple premise—an affair between a bartender and his boss's wife—and fills it with the tension and dark comedy that would become the brothers's signature. Bonus points for Blood Simple marking the film debut of future three-time Oscar-winner Frances McDormand, but the movie's best performance comes from M. Emmet Walsh as the morally-dubious and increasingly-creepy private eye who's around to add tension, laughs, and intensity—no matter what the movie calls for.
Barton Fink (1991)
It's fitting that one of the Coens's very best screenplays is about—drum roll please!—a writer writing his own screenplay. John Turturro leads Barton Fink as the titular writer, who ends up in a surreal, freaky adventure in Hollywood, haunted by a mysterious figure (played by John Goodman) who just may be the devil.
Raising Arizona (1987)
If Blood Simple established Joel and Ethan Coen on the filmmaking scene, Raising Arizona proved just how hysterically funny they could be. Their most successful pure comedy is still plenty dark—the plot centers on a pair of star-crossed lovers who happen to be a small-time crook named H.I. and an officer who's booked him into prison repeatedly named Ed (a wildly-cool Nicolas Cage and a wonderful Holly Hunter, respectively). The only problem? They want to have a kid, but Ed is infertile and H.I. can't adapt, because of the whole criminal thing. The solution? Well, they steal a baby. Whoops! Featuring some of the biggest laughs and the strangest, most eccentric brand of Coen humor, Raising Arizona is to this day one of their most purely delightful movies.
True Grit (2010)
Joel and Ethan gave their take on the John Wayne Western classic in 2010, re-teaming with Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski) to headline in Wayne's famous role as Rooster Cogburn, who helps a young girl (Hailee Steinfeld, in her film debut) avenge the death of her father at the hands of a dim-witted criminal (Josh Brolin). True Grit is the most straightforward Western that the Coens have made, but, predictably, they do it damn well (and bring Matt Damon along for the ride too).
A Serious Man (2009)
A Serious Man is one of the greatest and most impressive films Joel and Ethan ever made—which is really saying something. And the fact that we can say that in full honesty and seriousness and it still doesn't even crack our top six is perhaps the most impressive thing about them. This film follows a man named Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Minnesota physics professor who's life is mundane and normal, until suddenly it's not, and things, to put it simply, get very bad, and very strange. He lives his life by a code that he refuses to break, though—and things get bleak. It's this kind of weirdness where the Coens have always excelled, though. A Serious Man is the kind of movie you need to watch at full attention, and then think deeply about once it's over—and it's 100% worth it.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Perhaps the most fun—FUN!—movie that the Coens ever made was Burn After Reading, a star-studded espionage black comedy of sorts where not a single character, at any point, seems to have much of an idea what's actually going on; and that's the charm of it. George Clooney and Brad Pitt, teaming up here after the completion of their Ocean's trilogy, are both at their absolute best as very different kinds of idiots, while Frances McDormand also gives one of her most cunning, human, and naive performances at the same time. And John Malkovich kind of just does what John Malkovich does best—plays a smarmy prick who you can't help but look away from. Burn After Reading came the year after the Coens' major victories at the Oscars with No Country For Old Men, and could have been considered by many to simply be a fun detour, but on top of being one of their most delightful films, it's also proven to be utterly prescient in its depiction of a system of cyclical and often useless bureaucracy. It's a keeper.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
At the risk of sounding like Bill Hader's Stefon character from Saturday Night Live, it's not a lie to say that O Brother, Where Art Thou? kind of has everything. Let's go through the list: it's loosely based on Homer's epic poem "The Odyssey," it stars George Cloooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Goodman, among others, and it has an absolutely banging soundtrack that won the Grammy for Best Album (How far-fetched does that feel today?). The story follows a trio of escaped prisoners who make their way through an epic journey that twin-tracks with the rise and fall of a political demagogue; it was a great watch in 2000 upon release, and, like just about every Coen film, has only gotten better with age.
No Country For Old Men (2007)
In terms of pure cinema, many will likely have No Country For Old Men atop their Coen rankings. Not only is this the movie that won them Best Picture, Best Director. and Best Adapted Screenplay (and Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem), but it's basically the perfect, feature-length version of what their capable of doing with pure tension and thrills. It's the neo-Western at it's very finest, the film that brought Bardem's chilling killer Anton Chigurh from the pages of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name into the public cultural lexicon, and the movie that made Josh Brolin into the king of the modern Western. It's a one of a kind spectacle of chilling filmmaking with a vision, a voice, and a point—and a testament to Joel and Ethan's abilities that we're able to argue for three other movies as being even better.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
I don't even know where to start with Inside Llewyn Davis—this movie is just purely moving. Centered on Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), a folk musician whose partner has recently died by suicide, this film is at the same time a tribute to folk music of the Bob Dylan era (the Davis character is actually loosely based on Dave Van Ronk), and also whatever the opposite of a hero's journey is. Llewyn Davis is a pain to be around, and while a lot of things happen to him throughout the film, none of them are particularly well. Isaac plays the character with the pessimism of someone who has been through a marathon of bad luck, and knows, at this point, not to expect anything to go his way—but just can't let that last thread of hope go. Isaac has had a fantastic career across genres—but he's yet to top his performance in this film. When it all comes to an end, as with so many others on this list, Inside Llewyn Davis is a movie that will have you thinking about, well, life—and how to make the best of it. And there's some great music and an adorable cat along for the ride too, which are both great bonuses.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Is The Big Lebowski the most quotable movie of all time? It just might be. The Coens have spent much of their career going down the noir rabbit hole, but the merging of neo-noir and stoner comedy with The Big Lebowski proved to be one of their most successful endeavors of all time. When a laid back man known only as The Dude (Jeff Bridges) gets caught up in a case of mistaken identity that involves money, butlers. nihlists, pornographers, and bowling, we're along for the ride every step of the way. Bridges created the defining role of his iconic career with The Dude, and so many others in the cast—an incredible John Goodman, a subdued Steve Buscemi, an absolutely off-the-rails brief John Turturro, a Julianne Moore doing the most, and even a quick bit of Philip Seymour Hoffman and David Thewlist—make one of the most enjoyable (and rewatchable) movies of all time.
Fargo (1996)
But when it comes to the best Coen Brothers movie, in terms of both legitimately great and what makes for a great Coen Brothers Movie, there's no choice better than Fargo. No other movie better ties so many different pieces of what Joel and Ethan do better—incredible eccentric characters, laugh out loud humor, utter tension, and dark humor—in a simple package that works so well. Frances McDormand (winning her first of three Oscars), William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare are among the many incredible performers who serve as vessels for what ended up being the Coens's first Academy Award-winning script—and the movie they're still to this day most associated with.
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