Barton Fink (1991) Rank 5 Reviews

Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Stimulating entertainment, as rigorously challenging and painfully funny as anything the Coens have done. But it's necessary to meet the Coens halfway. If you don't, Barton Fink is an empty exercise that will bore you breathless. If you do, it's a comic ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

AboutFilm.com (Jeff Vorndam)

I don't know if I've ever seen a movie that suggests or hints at so many interpretations. Some people may regard this as weakness, that the Coen Brothers tantalize but ultimately fail to deliver. I see it as a perfect way for everyone to take away his ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at AboutFilm.com (Jeff Vorndam)

eFilmCritic

Written during a bout of writer's block while penning the gangster saga Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink represents an artistic leap forward for The Coen Brothers. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at eFilmCritic

filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)

That "Barton Fink feeling" is all over the Coen brothers movie, a modern classic that both celebrates and damns the Golden Age of Hollywood. One of the Coens' most play-like movies, John Turturro stars in a career-making role as an angst-ridden supporter ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)

Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Partly hilarious, partly horrific, totally mesmerizing. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Kevin Patterson

The Coen brothers have made a name for themselves largely through their wacky tales of crime gone wrong, such as Fargo and Raising Arizona. In Barton Fink, however, they craft what is probably their best and most personal work to date by tackling a ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Kevin Patterson

Randy Parker

Hollywood movies, good or bad, tend to be fairly predictable, since they almost always conform to the conventions of a genre. A successful movie can overcome this limitation in a number of ways. It may add a novel twist to an otherwise familiar story ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Randy Parker

Looking Closer (Jeffrey Overstreet)

The Coen Brothers, who brought us the zany Raising Arizona and the delightful dark comedy Fargo, won the Palme D'Or at Cannes for this weird and disturbing picture. They deserved it. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Looking Closer (Jeffrey Overstreet)

Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Wrapped in plain brown paper and no bigger than a typically swelled Hollywood head, the box looks ordinary. It's not, of course. This is a movie from the Coen brothers, and as you may have gleaned from their earlier work ("Blood Simple," "Raising ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)

Washington Post (Rita Kempley)

What "Raising Arizona" was to baby lust, "Barton Fink" is to writer's block -- a rapturously funny, strangely bittersweet, moderately horrifying and, yes, truly apt description of the condition and its symptoms. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Washington Post (Rita Kempley)

Variety (Staff (Not Credited))

Scene after scene is filled with a ferocious strength and humor. Michael Lerner's performance as a Mayer-like studio overlord is sensational. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Variety (Staff (Not Credited))

Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

A black comedy in the tradition of David Lynch, Luis Bunuel and the Coens themselves...an assured piece of comic filmmaking. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Jay Scott)

This hip morality tale is by no means perfect - it's not the masterpiece "Miller's Crossing" was - but it is stylish, intelligent, witty and more than slightly creepy. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (Jay Scott)

Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

If there is a favorite image in the movies by the Coen brothers, it's of crass, venal men behind desks, who possess power the heroes envy. Maybe that's because, like all filmmakers, the Coens have spent a lot of time on the carpet, pitching projects to ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)

DVD Talk (James W. Powell)

Barton Fink is a film that gets better with each viewing. It has perfect dialog, subtle humor, and more than a touch of emotion-a combination of ingredients one learns to expect from a film by Joel and Ethan Coen. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at DVD Talk (James W. Powell)

Movie Reviews UK

A subtle and probing jaunt into the darkness of "writer's block", Barton Fink peers into just what lies below people's perceived character. The elation of overnight success often changes the recipient in surprising ways, although in the case of Barton ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Movie Reviews UK

Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

The main story itself is set in 1941, where Hollywood has been recruiting some of the best playwrights in the country to come work for them. One of these playwrights is Barton Fink, a conflicted artsy intellectual that has been given the chore of ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

filmcritic.com

That "Barton Fink feeling" is all over the Coen brothers movie, a modern classic that both celebrates and damns the Golden Age of Hollywood. One of the Coens' most play-like movies, John Turturro stars in a career-making role as an angst-ridden supporter ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at filmcritic.com

Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review

The Joel Coen and Ethan Coen comedy is about a playwright's experiences in Hollywood in the forties. The film's quirky sound mix has been superbly transferred on the stereo surround soundtrack, while its problematical pinkish cinematography (see the ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Doug Pratt's Laserdisc Review

Austin Chronicle (Steve Davis)

Weird things happen in Barton Fink, the Coen brothers' comedy with a wicked sense of retribution. Loosely modeled on left-leaning playwright Clifford Odets, Broadway's champion of the American social conscience during the Thirties, Barton Fink is a ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Austin Chronicle (Steve Davis)

Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)

The Coen brothers are among the most eclectic filmmakers around. Whether you like their movies or not, you won't soon forget them. They are best when they take a genre and develop it beyond anything ever done before. The perfect example is Blood Simple, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips, Jr.)

DVD Clinic ("Indiana Sev")

Barton Fink (Turturro) is a famed New York playwright who gets swayed by Hollywood to write for the "pictures". ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at DVD Clinic ("Indiana Sev")

Needcoffee.com - DVD Review

Barton Fink (Turturro) is Broadway's hottest new playwright of 1941. Needless to say, Hollywood calls on him immediately to come out and write for the movies. There's one little problem; he is not a writer for the money. He is trying to write plays for ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Needcoffee.com - DVD Review

Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

Very competently mounted and acted (there are also juicy parts for Judy Davis, Tony Shalhoub, and Jon Polito), this is basically a midnight-movie gross-out in Sunday-afternoon art-house clothing--an intriguing novelty that revels in effect while oozing ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

Empire Magazine (Angie Errigo)

There is much in this black Valentine to 40s Hollywood that is hugely enjoyable for the cinema buff: style, wit and in-jokes abound. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Empire Magazine (Angie Errigo)

EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)

Written during their own creative block, Joel and Ethan Coen's noirish satirical allegory decodes the myth of the "sensitive" artist, the mysteries of the creative process, and the ambiguities of Hollywood authorship. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)

Empire (Angie Errigo)

The allusions and illusions are just a treat until about two-thirds of the way in, when a genuinely shocking development takes the film off into psycho-horror that is almost as baffling as it is unsatisfying. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Empire (Angie Errigo)

Austin Chronicle (Steve Davis)

For once, the Coen brothers' neurotic filmmaking style works to their advantage; it's giddily appropriate for a movie about a man who's losing his mind. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Austin Chronicle (Steve Davis)

DVD Authority.com ("Fusion3600")

Barton Fink (John Turturro) is a writer, one that chooses to focus on the intellectual side of the fence. He lives in New York and writes plays, but it seems as though motion pictures is the hot area for writers, so he decides to take a chance. He is ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at DVD Authority.com ("Fusion3600")

Fulvue Drive-in

When Barry Sonnenfeld left the Coen Brothers as their cinematographer, a shift in their work visually was noticed, though it still retained many qualities typical of their films. Roger Deakins, B.S.C., who would take the writer/director team into a more ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Fulvue Drive-in

The Onion A.V. Club (Noel Murray)

Joel and Ethan Coen became cult heroes on the strength of the laconic 1984 noir riff Blood Simple and the 1987 hayseed caper comedy Raising Arizona, but they ran into trouble while working out the labyrinthine plot of their 1990 gangster picture Miller's ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The Onion A.V. Club (Noel Murray)

EyeCraveDVD - review

John Turturro shines in the lead role in BARTON FINK the Coen Brothers' hilarious satire set in 1940's Hollywood. Fink is a New York playwright who reluctantly relocates to Hollywood to write screenplays. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at EyeCraveDVD - review

DVD Maniacs

Set in the 1940s, Barton Fink is the story of a playwright of the same name (John Turturro of Miller's Crossing) who moves from his home in New York to the bustling borrow of Hollywood, California. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at DVD Maniacs

Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips Jr.)

The Coen brothers are among the most eclectic filmmakers around. Whether you like their movies or not, you won't soon forget them. They are best when they take a genre and develop it beyond anything ever done before. The perfect example is Blood Simple, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Goatdog's Movies (Michael W. Phillips Jr.)

The Tech (MIT) (Brian Rose & Roy Cantu)

IN OUR CONSTANT QUEST FOR AN award-winning flick, the Mad Dog Movie Masters chose Barton Fink, winner of three, count 'em, three awards at the Cannes Film Festival -- best film, best director, and best actor (John Turturro). ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The Tech (MIT) (Brian Rose & Roy Cantu)

Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

Barton Fink isn't the first film about writer's block, but it may be the best. Reportedly, the story was inspired by the difficulties of crafting Miller's Crossing and with 20th Century Fox's constant niggling about their script and vision, or lack ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)

Rolling Stone

Wrapped in plain brown paper and no bigger than a typically swelled Hollywood head, the box looks ordinary. It's not, of course. This is a movie from the Coen brothers, and as you may have gleaned from their earlier work ("Blood Simple," "Raising ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Rolling Stone

Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)

Barton Fink has an atmosphere of languid comic anxiety (it's like a cross between "Eraserhead" and "Angel Heart"), and it's fun to watch, if only because you have no idea what's coming next. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Owen Gleiberman)

Movieline Magazine

The Coen brothers' Barton Fink is a chic conundrum that touches on the subject of anti-Semitism. The title character, played by John Turturro, is a Jewish playwright who comes to Hollywood in the early days of World War II and strikes up a friendship ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Movieline Magazine

Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)

Winner of three awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, Fink is not as great as some of the Coen's other work, but it certainly has plenty of good moments. It involves a befuddled playwright (John Turturro), who is given a job offer to write a ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Teen Movie Critic (Roger Davidson)

Mark R. Leeper

Capsule review: Very strange but supremely well-crafted film from Joel and Ethan Coen. The Coen Brothers have the best batting average in Hollywood. They have made four films and each of the four is highly recommended. During a bout of writer's block ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Mark R. Leeper

Ed Nilges

BARTON FINK is a movie I think the French will like; I understand it's already won several awards at Cannes. It is an extremely, surprisingly intelligent movie which at the same time is eminently watchable, despite descriptions of it which make it sound ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Ed Nilges

Frank R.A.J. Maloney

You've probably heard about the story and I'm not going to get into that, except to say that Barton Fink (John Turturro) is a self-absorbed playwright with his first hit on Broadway who gets himself co-opted by Hollywood in 1941. Hollywood, in this case, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Frank R.A.J. Maloney

PreViewed DVD

There are quirky comedies, and then there are quirky comedies from the Joel and Ethan Coen. Their first true comedy was Raising Arizona, where they made audiences laugh at the antics of a couple of kidnappers on the run from the law and from a ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at PreViewed DVD

Ryan Ellis

Taking a delicious stab at the Hollywood film industry, the Coens seem to be parodying vintage Hollywood or even Billy Wilder's masterpiece, "Sunset Blvd."! Featuring superior set design, fantastic cinematography, meticulous detail, and great acting, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Ryan Ellis

Chad Polenz

We meet our main character, Barton Fink, played wonderfully by John Turturro. He is a struggling Jewish playwright in 1940s New York who is given rave reviews but isn't satisfied. He knows there's something out there for him but just doesn't know what it ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Chad Polenz

Dave Cowen

Every year, somebody posts the "Barton Fink makes absolutely no sense and never will" post. Believe it or not, while the Coen boys had a wonderful time throwing curve balls at the audience, most of the more absurd elements of Barton Fink _do_ fit ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Dave Cowen

Dr. Gore's movie reviews

Barton Fink" is about Barton Fink. Catchy title eh? Fink is a writer. He's a writer for the common man. He wants to create a new, living, breathing theater "of and about the common man". He has one hit play and then shuffles off to Hollywood to continue ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Dr. Gore's movie reviews

MovieEye.com (David Litton)

What begins as a mildly interesting premise in "Barton Fink" ends up becoming a misplaced film noir that goes terribly awry. The film's titular character (John Turturro) starts out as a New York playwright whose shot at fame comes after receiving a rave ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at MovieEye.com (David Litton)

Deranged Video Dude (Robert Wurth)

Not too long ago I reviewed another Coen brothers film, O Brother Where Art Thou. I didn't really care for it. The fact that my opinion is not a reflection of the Coens themselves is proved by the film Barton Fink. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Deranged Video Dude (Robert Wurth)

TV Guide (Staff (Not Credited))

Ultimately, however, the look, sound and feel of this macabre comedy fail to support any coherent theme...Much is denigrated, but little affirmed. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at TV Guide (Staff (Not Credited))

Entertainment Insiders (Stephen Wong)

Barton Fink," the fourth film by the Coen brothers is a bizarre homage to Hollywood's studio system. This tale of a socialist playwright adrift in Hollywood circa 1941 is shows what would have happened if the movie "Sullivan's Travels" had been set in ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Entertainment Insiders (Stephen Wong)

The Digital Bits

It is arguably these two films (released a year apart from one another in '90 and '91 respectively) that firmly established the voice and place of the Coen Brothers (Raising Arizona, Fargo) in Hollywood - somewhat on the fringe, yet breathing down its ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The Digital Bits

Mr. Cranky

The story is loosely based on the life of '40s playwright Clifford Odets. Barton Fink (John Turturro) goes to Hollywood after his first successful play and is asked to write, of all things, a Wallace Beery wrestling movie. As the creative juices turn to ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Mr. Cranky

Time Out

In 1941, the well-meaning, vaguely leftist Broadway playwright of the title (Turturro) tries to settle into a rancid Hollywood hotel room to write his first script for eccentric mogul Jack Lipnick (Lerner). Trouble is, it's a Wallace Beery wrestling pic, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Time Out

The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review

In 1941, after success with his latest production, playwrightBarton Fink is called to Hollywood by movie mogul Jack Lipnick to writea wrestling movie for Wallace Beery. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review

Spirituality & Practice (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)

In their new comedy Barton Fink, Joel and Ethan Coen have fashioned a parable about the intellectual vanity of a creative individual who wants to improve society with his vision of the common man. John Turturro plays the lead character, a sober New York ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Spirituality & Practice (Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat)

Deseret News, Salt Lake City

We first glimpse jittery, serious-minded Barton Fink (John Turturro) while he is backstage at his new play, absently moving his lips to dialogue spoken by actors on the stage. Later, he is no less nervous while being hailed by snobs at a local "in" ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City

JoBlo's Movie Emporium ("JoBlo")

The story itself is a simple one, of course, a writer who moves to Hollywood to write for the movies during the 1940s, but the "events" which occur to him once he gets there, are, on the surface, extremely trivial, but supposedly, ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at JoBlo's Movie Emporium ("JoBlo")

Cinepad (Jim Emerson)

"What don't I understand?" asks an exasperated Barton Fink (John Turturro) -- a young, idealistic and hopelessly bewildered New York playwright who comes to Hollywood and finds himself in a seedy room at the Hotel Earle, struggling to write a Wallace ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Cinepad (Jim Emerson)

Washington Post (Desson Thomson)

Like the mysterious, bound package Goodman gives Turturro (the contents are never revealed), the Coens isolate a small area of interest, bind it with psycho-atmospheric finesse, then wait for something significant to emerge. Even after a second viewing ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Washington Post (Desson Thomson)

Film Freak Central

Each a specimen of film noir, the genre in which the Coens have most often toiled (see: Blood Simple, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and The Man Who Wasn't There), Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink--period pictures set at least a decade-and-a-half apart--both ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Film Freak Central

Boxoffice Magazine

There are those who believe that the Coen brothers have never been better than they were for a brief period in 1990 and 1991 when they made, in short order, "Miller's Crossing" and "Barton Fink." For die-hard Coen fans, these two films represent their ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at Boxoffice Magazine

The New Yorker (Terrence Rafferty)

It feels thin. It's an empty tour de force, and what's dismaying about the picture is that the filmmakers... seem inordinately pleased with its hermetic meaninglessness. ...read the complete Barton Fink movie review at The New Yorker (Terrence Rafferty)

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Barton Fink (1991) Rank 5 Reviews

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