Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Joel J — 07 Dec 2009

I have been wondering for some time when the slow noir stylings of the Coen Brothers was finally going to put me to sleep, and it finally happened. This movie is downright boring...slothfully so. Don't get me wrong, excellent performances from John Turturro and John Goodman (especially Goodman) pull the movie out the complete abyss - but this film is a just a pretentious piece of a writer's own self indulgent, neurotic nature.

We are lead to believe that Turturro's character is this brilliant Broadway writer, skeptically making his way to the big screen - but we never, EVER get even the faintest glimpse of it. Also, there really is no twist in the murder.

Goodman is the obvious killer, and he turns out to be just that. A thriller with an obvious twist is not the Coen's M.O. Of course the dialogue is impeccable, and the cinematopgraphy is all there - but this film really, really lacks direction.

And if it has direction and I just missed it, it was because I was bored to death. It is good to see Steve Buschemi in his cold, clammy prime, and Goodman really does pull this one out of the ringer. Trust me when I say that this is no Coen's classic.