The Coen Brothers: Their 5 Best Comedies & 5 Best Dramas, Ranked

Joel and Ethan Coen, better known as the Coen Brothers, are two of the finest filmmakers working today. They have released well over 18 films since 1984, with their most recent effort, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, coming out in 2018.

A Coen Brothers film is a special film, as they usually subvert genre tropes and try to spin things in very strange directions. There is also a clear distinction in their dramas and comedies, as they both differ incredibly from each other. They’re seemingly masters at both, whether it is an original screenplay or one that is adapted from elsewhere. Here are the five best Coen comedies and the five best Coen dramas.

10 COMEDY: Raising Arizona (1987)

Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter star as a husband and wife who are desperate for a baby. Do they look to modern science for help? No, of course not! Instead, they set out to steal one of five quintuplets from a local rich family.

Raising Arizona was the second feature helmed by the brothers following their debut Blood Simple, and it’s full of madcap insanity. It’s also one of their more lighthearted works, feeling very much like a live-action cartoon than a morbidly hilarious comedy or a harrowing examination of human nature’s dark side.

9 DRAMA: Barton Fink (1991)

The siblings won the Palme d’Or for their psychological drama Barton Fink. Influenced by the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and referencing writers like William Faulkner, the film tells the story of a young playwright who is hired to write films for Hollywood, where he discover the dark truth of Tinseltown.

Starring John Turturro, this is one of the more hotly contested films by the Coens, with themes of literature, slavery, mortality, and others being prevalent.

8 COMEDY: Burn After Reading (2008)

During an era full of comedies with frat boy humor like The Hangover, the Coens delivered one of the best, straightforward comedies with Burn After Reading. Chronicling three different arcs and their stories interlocking with each other, this one stars an ensemble cast with the likes of George Clooney, Frances McDormand, and Brad Pitt.

It’s a darkly funny tale of conspiracies that lead nowhere and showcases Pitt at his absolute, comic best.

7 DRAMA: Fargo (1996)

While Fargo is a bit more comedic than most movies in the same genre, it is still a dark drama by most standards. The movie follows the story of a very pregnant police chief (played by McDormand) as she investigates some strange murders in her otherwise uneventful small town.

William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare also star in this one, rounding out a trademark cast of Coen weirdos. It is one of the best films in their filmography, and arguably one of the films that put the brothers on the map. Fargo also spawned a critically-acclaimed TV series that’s set in the same eponymous town but this time, following different lives and mysteries.

6 COMEDY: O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

This sepia-toned colored film is a gem in the Coen canon. Adapting Homer’s The Odyssey while also turning the famed epic into a farce, this story concerns a trio of runaway convicts played by George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson and John Turturro.

The film is a sharp satire of its source material, set in rural Missouri in 1937. It features one of the best soundtracks in film history and is a genuinely funny film. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is definitely one of the duo’s more accessible works by a large margin.

5 DRAMA: Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Arguably considered one of the duo’s strongest efforts of the 2010’s, Inside Lleyn Davis stars Oscar Isaac as a struggling folk singer in a fictionalized account of New York’s folk scene in the ’60s. Despite being a bit more understated when compared to their other works, Inside Llewyn Davis feels much bolder than other Coen films.

It feels much more grounded in reality but it still offers that signature Coen wit, albeit even drier than usual. It also showcases the cast’s ability to sing as all the songs were sung live as opposed to lip-synched and dubbed.

4 COMEDY: A Serious Man (2009)

“Sy Ableman?!?!” Whenever the Coens explore faith and religion, the results are always interesting. A Serious Man stars Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik, a Jewish man whose life is slowly falling apart.

The film tackles people’s need to find answers in a time of crisis. Larry’s journey is full of laughs, with an equal amount of time spent on just how awful everything can be. It’s one of the best films of the 2000’s and is easily the most mature film by the Coens.

3 DRAMA: True Grit (2010)

The Coens decided to tackle Charles Portis’s classic novel of the same name in 2010, 41 years after John Wayne starred in an earlier adaptation. The result was not just a great Coen Brothers movie but one of the greatest westerns of the last 20 years.

Starring Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Jeff Bridges as Deputy U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn, this version of the story is a much grimmer and dreary affair. After her father is murdered, the young Ross decides to hunt down the killer responsible with the help of the drunken Cogburn. The acting is superb and the Coens’ direction is still unmatched.

2 COMEDY: The Big Lebowski (1998)

Very few comedies share the same legacy as The Big Lebowski. Initially, a box office bomb that garnered mixed reviews, the film is now its own subculture and even a religion called Dudeism. It’s the story of the Dude (Jeff Bridges) who, while in search of a new rug, gets caught up in a massive conspiracy that is beyond his reach.

What makes The Big Lebowski so great is how it uses its influences effectively. Pulling from hard-boiled novels by Raymond Chandler, this film crafts a genuine mystery and infuses it with comedy.

1 DRAMA: No Country For Old Men (2007)

There is so much to say about this one. Based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name, No Country For Old Men is easily the brothers’ masterpiece. After a botched drug deal turns deadly, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds himself on the run from the murderous Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem).

It’s a cat-and-mouse story, wrapped up in a neo-western setting that is beautifully shot by Roger Deakins. Here, the Coens are in full force, providing what may be the 2000’s greatest film and their greatest achievement to date.

About The Author