Barton Fink (1991)

The critic praises the Coens' film as a thumping good story with knockout performances from Turturro and Goodman and a literate, witty screenplay. It singles out the subtle assault on the arrogant obsessions of certain kinds of writers who fail to listen to the common man they profess to champion.

The critic calls it the most brilliantly observed Hollywood put-down since Day of the Locust, a vitriolic yet successful attack on the industry. It is praised as a gorgeously designed paranoid parable with sharp detail, great in-jokes and a standout performance by Michael Lerner.

The review describes the Coens' assured direction and superb writing that make the tortuous narrative cohere into a thrilling, multi-level work with marvellous performances. It highlights the shift from psychodrama and satire into outrageous Gothic fantasy.

The Coen brothers' film is their most accomplished to date, with masterful style, imagination and cinematic illustration of the protagonist's dilemma, even if the content is thin and the film may feel like a feast one wants to follow with something else soon. Malcolm praises the performances, particularly Turturro's straight-faced portrayal and Lerner's impression of Louis B. Mayer, while noting the lurch between parody and nightmare.

The Coens make movies to please themselves, resulting in a film that is exhilarating and frustrating at the same time with a hermetically sealed world. It offers an amusing crackpot take on the underside of the Hollywood dream but adds up to much less than the sum of its enticing parts.

The Coens have produced an unqualified winner with this fine dark comedy of flamboyant style and immense technique. It is an exhilarating original about the perils of the mind for the impressionable Barton Fink.

The critic praises the film's originality and surprising nature, highlighting the Coen brothers' ability to create a dangerous, renegade cinema about writer's block in a visually compelling way. They single out the performances of John Turturro and John Goodman for complementing the atmospheric and absurd elements.