Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, commonly known as the Coen Brothers, have been making funny, unique films with various themes for over 30 years.
They’ve also become professional and academic celebrities, with four Oscars for screenwriting, filmmaking, and creating to their credit. Appreciate this powerful pair by ranking all 19 of their films from one the worst to the greatest.
1. The Ladykillers
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Tom Hanks, J.K. Simmons, Stephen Root
- IMDB: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 54%
- Streaming Services: Hulu
I won’t sugarcoat it: this might be the Coen brothers’ weakest picture. But, to be honest, it has some huge shoes to fill following the original from 1955. You’d think the Coen brothers could pull it off with an all-star ensemble that included Tom Hanks, Irma P. Hall, Marlon Wayans, J.K. Simmons, and Stephen Root, but they didn’t.
However, Coens’ work is known for its humorous character work. Unfortunately, it’s cartoonish and baseless, the on-screen relationship never quite connects, and Hanks’ accent sounds more like a Foghorn Leghorn impersonation than an organic decision.
2. Intolerable Cruelty
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: George Clooney, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Geoffrey Rush
- IMDB: 6.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 76
- Streaming Services: Apple TV
It may lack the edge or creativity of other films on our list, but make no bones: Intolerable Cruelty still is a lot of fun. The film is mainly a twisty-turny battle of wits in dramatic courtrooms and tense boardrooms, pitting crafty divorce attorney Miles Massey (George Clooney) against similarly cunning divorcée Marilyn Rexroth (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Everyone is constantly one step ahead of one another, it’s hard to tell who’s ahead, and there are lots of surprises you won’t see coming. If you want to see something light, this is a wonderful choice.
3. Raising Arizona
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter
- IMDB: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
- Streaming Services: Apple TV
All of the components are present. The Coens’ second film has clumsy crooks, a bizarre narrative centered on an abduction, a menacing hitman, and many other clichés that they’ve since become renowned for, and follows an ex-con on a quest to give his spouse a baby at any cost.
The issue, at least for me, was that these components didn’t come together too as they do in some other Coen brothers’ films — the protagonists weren’t as well advanced, the narrative wasn’t as entertaining, and all in all, I can’t find myself going to remember action sequences and quotations in the same way I have with the pair’s greatest movies.
4. “The Hudsucker Proxy”
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Tim Robbins, Sam Raimi, Paul Newman
- IMDB: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 59%
- Streaming Services: Hotstar
Tim Robbins is a quirky, jovial man who is chosen head of a failing firm by its scheming board head and later invents the hula hoop. I can’t really think of a more Coen Brothers film and cinematic subject.
Robbins put in some of his best starting in the early 1990s between this and Altman’s “The Player,” and the scene in which he attempted to explain the swaying equipment to a flummoxed board of senile white men are pretty standard Coens: pointed, arpeggiated conversation and an almost introspective yearning on Robbins’ part.
It also features Paul Newman.
5. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, James Franco
- IMDB: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Services: Netflix
The Coens return to their love of cowboys with their six-in-one collection, a compendium of American frontier short stories brought to life in one film.
The 20-minute shorts follow various individuals attempting to make their way in the harsh Wild West, from an elderly gold treasure hunter (Tom Waits) slaving in a sun-streaked meadow to a recently bereaved (Zoe Kazan) juggling marriage proposals and a little barking puppy on a wagon train.
6. “True Grit”
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld
- IMDB: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
- Streaming Services: Prime Video
The Coens stay truer to Charles Portis’ novel than to the 1969 Henry Hathaway/John Wayne film, yet something seems dull and lifeless here. Rooster Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges, is a sight to behold, albeit one can’t help but notice the ethereal presence of John Wayne. Matt Damon plays the clumsy Texas ranger LaBoeuf in a humorous role.
Wayne wasn’t much of an actor, but his sheer presence was frequently fascinating. He was one of the screen’s great unique, yet often mimicked characters.
That grandeur of that presence is missing here. Despite their strong formal maneuvers and aesthetic proclivities, the Coens fail to evoke any genuine mystery or wonder. Regardless, there are some magnificent set pieces, Bridges is clearly a far better actor than Wayne, and Hailee Steinfeld does an outstanding job as the young woman.
7. Hail, Caesar!
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff
- IMDB: 7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Service: Apple Tv
Hail, Caesar!, a comedy about creating a picture in 1950s Hollywood, assembles a crazy celebrity cast for this goofy-dressed adventure. A bunch of communist screenwriters abduct Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) while broker Eddie Manx (Josh Brolin) scurries to accept the money for the company.
Elsewhere, rumor opinion writers Thora and Thessaly Thacker (both portrayed by Tilda Swinton) congregate in search of a scoop. The whole thing is as crazy as it sounds, yet I can’t help but think (as we’ll see later on in the list) that the Coens have created a greater film about filmmaking…
8. A Serious Man
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff
- IMDB: 7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Service: Apple Tv
Many of the Coen brothers’ films indulge in their own partly offset and intricacy, but A Serious Man takes things to the next level entirely.
The film recounts the multiple tragedies of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish professor in 1960s Minnesota whose spouse seeks a separation as he struggles for a doctorate in the aftermath of a series of handwritten letters aimed at discrediting him.
Sadly for Gopnik, things worsen, and when he seeks aid from his faith, the numerous rabbis he contacts appear unable to provide helpful advice. Given that A Serious Man tackles the search for purpose in an often tumultuous and cruel cosmos, it stands to reason that this one will be tumultuous as well.
9. “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: George Clooney, John Turturro, John Goodman
- IMDB: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
- Streaming Services: Netflix
Channeling both Homer and “Sullivan’s Travels,” this rhythmic /crime caper/road movie/fairy tale mash-up is the Coens at their most erratic, as well as their most daring. George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson play three jail cell fugitives who meet a variety of fictitious characters.
Along the way, from Baby Face Nelson to a black guy who sold his soul to Old Scratch in addition to playing the guitar, on their way to find hidden treasure (but mostly to prevent Clooney’s former wife from remarrying).
The picture scoops up together for almost every style known to man, infused with sepia-toned folk splendor and steeped in metafiction; if the consequences are chaotic, that’s alright since it’s such a lovely existence chaos.
10. Burn After Reading
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Frances McDormand, George Clooney
- IMDB: 7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
- Streaming Service: Prime Video
Catch pace with Burn After Reading, a film that mixes major star strength with the Coens’ characteristic black humor and an astonishingly intricate narrative.
The plot focuses on two little genius gym trainers (Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand) who try to coerce a retired Army officer (John Malkovich) whose wife (Tilda Swinton) is having a fling with a neurotic US Marshal (George Clooney) who is also can see one of the health club trainers (McDormand) at the same time he’s seeing the owner’s woman.
There is a lot going on. The film, however, does not take itself too literally; there are some really humorous and disturbing scenes, and it seems more current than ever in today’s day and age of misinformation. This is one of the best of the Coen brother’s movies.
11. The Big Lebowski
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi
- IMDB: 8.1
- Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
- Streaming Service: Prime Video
When the term “modern classic” is used, The Big Lebowski has to be one of the first films that come to mind. It has to be one of the Coens’ greatest films, with its ensemble of quirky characters, the flow of memorable quotes, and a strong core performance from Jeff Bridges as The Dude.
The film begins with a case of misidentification (a common Coen brothers cliche), with Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski becoming confused for a completely other Lebowski who happens to be a) a billionaire and b) in severe danger with some evil guys.
What ensues is a hilarious comedy involving extortion, stolen rugs, and more bowlers than you can toss a White Russian drink at.
12. Miller’s Crossing
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Gabriel Byrne, John Turturro, Albert Finney
- IMDB: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
- Streaming Service: Disney+
People who don’t like the Coens typically appreciate “Miller’s Crossing” because it has a lighter, airier tone than the brothers’ later gangster-noirs, and it runs easily compared, like an ancient river, without descending into a frenzy like “Raising Arizona” or “The Big Lebowski.”
It also misses what Leonard Maltin refers to as the Coen Brothers’ “left turn.” Gabriel Byrne is a quadruple-crossing mobster whose boss, portrayed by the legendary Albert Finney, goes to battle with his steamy Italian competitor, played by Jon Polito, because Polito wants to murder John Turturro’s snake oil salesman Jewish bookmaker. Turturro’s sister, Marcia Gay Harden, is sleeping with a few of them, which complicates matters.
13. The Man Who Wasn’t There
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Scarlett Johannsson
- IMDB: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
- Streaming Services: Prime Video
It does seem strange that it took the Coens nearly 20 years to try black-and-white cinematography, given that their films live solely in the gray area between blinding light and utter blackness.
“The Man Who Wasn’t There,” shot in color and converted in post-production, is one of their most aesthetically expressive works. The eponymous character, a flabby shell of a man, is played by Billy Bob Thornton, who relishes his evil role on FX’s excellent “Fargo.”
He’s a barber with a monotonous voice in a monochrome world, expelled from existence. His spouse (Frances McDormand) and her employer (James Gandolfini, who was still filming “The Sopranos” at the time) are fooling around behind his back, not so quietly.
14. Blood Simple
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh
- IMDB: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
- Streaming Service: HBO Max
Many of the aesthetic and philosophical aspects that pervade Joel and Ethan’s illustrious career may be found in their acting debut, a plasma neo-noir on a small budget.
“Blood Simple” demonstrates the creativity the directors have consistently utilized to underline the oddities of American lowlifes, with entertaining trick shots (the lens gliding down a bar, hopping over a passed-out alcoholic on the route to its final goal) and that keen Coen humor.
The plot is acquainted: a guy (John Getz) and a lady (Frances McDormand) plan to flee away; her husband (Dan Hedaya) objects, so he employs a two-timing private detective (E. Emmett Walsh, brilliantly sleazy) to handle things.
15. Barton Fink
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: John Turturro, John Goodman
- IMDB: 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
- Streaming Service: iTunes
Written while the siblings were battling with “Miller’s Crossing,” this furious, bizarre condemnation of artists (which they’d return with “Inside Llewyn Davis”) spews wrath at Hollywood sell-outs as well self-important authors. (John Mahoney gives a great performance as Faulkner.)
The eponymous character is played by John Turturro, a left-wing dramatist who pretends to be a defender of the people yet never appears to care about them.
John Goodman, the big ol’ cuddly, sweaty bear in braces, portrays his neighbor, Charlie, a door-to-door salesperson, with some things to share if Barton ever listens. With its seeping, secretory walls, the hotel where Barton and Charlie dwell is as much a character as any of them.
16. Fargo
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy
- IMDB: 8.1
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
- Streaming Service: Prime Video
As amazing as FX’s tv adaptation is, the original film is a must-see. To list a few of the film’s achievements: Marge Gunderson, Frances McDormand’s pregnant police chief, has more heart and complexity than most films manage to communicate with a full range of actors.
William H. Macy’s numerous stutters and stutters are all written, demonstrating the attention the Coens take to their films. Carter Burwell’s soundtrack conjures the melancholy sense of attempting to grasp misty swirls of air in the freezing Minnesota air.
In a lesser picture, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare’s warring lowlifes may provide humorous relief, but they are equally as important to the tone and plot here.
17. The Tragedy of Macbeth
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Denzel Washington, Kathryn Hunter
- IMDB: 7.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
- Streaming Service: Apple Tv
So, legally, this isn’t a Coen Brothers film; nonetheless, it is a Coen Brothers film. Joel translated this Shakespearean masterpiece on his own when Ethan moved away from filming, motivated by his own wife’s theatrical portrayal as Lady Macbeth.
Frances McDormand, a four-time Academy Prizewinner, reprised her role as the vicious villain who notoriously persuaded her husband to commit treasonous murder in order to gain the throne.
Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award winner, meets McDormand at her pinnacle of achievement in the eponymous character. This powerful combination decimates, whether whispering plans, caressing in compassion, or uttering absolutely memorable quotes, backed by an excellent orchestra.
18. No Country For Old Men
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin
- IMDB: 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
- Streaming Service: Prime, Netflix
The directors employ the wide beige terrain of southern Texas, with its supposed normalcy and sandy emptiness, as a type of self-contained prison from which the people can never leave, in a style reminiscent of Howard Hawks. The brutality is as intense as it would be in a Sam Peckinpah picture but without the self-conscious starvation.
Josh Brolin is excellent as the middle-income Vietnam vet who stumbles upon a large sum of illegal money; Javier Bardem is even better as the mysterious murderer on his trail, a homicidal illusion who abides by his own special number; and Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding as the former marine sheriff pursuing both men.
19. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
- Director : Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
- Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake
- IMDB: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
- Streaming Service: Showtime
“Inside Llewyn Davis” is a mysterious, beautiful hymn to art and the people who create it. Oscar Isaac plays the eponymous songwriter, who engages in an Ouroboros-like quest that appears to be devised by Sisyphus himself. Oscar is one of the all-time great film jerks. No other Coens figure is as completely embedded in, and unmistakably a product of, his environment.
Oscar’s ashen, frigid New York is a grayscale rendering of a tepid cement wasteland. Everything smells like old cigar smoke. The most significant feature of Oscar’s plateau-like journey is that he isn’t a prodigy; if he were, the film would be a different type of tragedy.
The usual story of a bright individual artist remains unrecognized until it abruptly doesn’t. Oscar Isaac plays an amazing role in the best picture ever made.
