Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Eric H — 23 Aug 2014

Loved it! The first great virtue of this movie is that by and large it does not have a "side" that it takes. All the distinctive, and distinctively flawed, characters are shown in their stunning imperfection.

Its second great virtue is that it breaks amazing new ground for Hollywood by having a major introvert as a main character. The third great virtue is that it plays said introvert off against John Goodman in his best role ever as a seemingly lovable extrovert.

And then there are a bunch of surprises, some cool symbolism, and, in the end, some events that allow the smart, idealistic introverted Barton to open his eyes and see what the world of "ordinary people" actually looks like.