Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Jeremy L — 07 Sep 2010

Not by any means a bad movie but I think the Coen Brothers have done better. I just find it all a bit slow and lacking in substance. There are some great performances and I love the setting of the mouldering hotel but there is an oddly lacking sense tension which I feel the situation of a writer suffering from a severe case of block, deadline rapidly approaching should create.

I just don't care enough. John Goodman is superb as Charlie Meadows and easily steals every scene he is in and while John Turturro is fine as Fink, for me, he just doesn't convince as he slides into madness as his life begins to unravel.

The performance just seems to lack the mania it needs and comes over as a rather pale Woody Allen pastische. Darkly comic in places, a plot with a lot of promise and a rather unsatisfying ending.