Following polls on Scorsese, Spielberg, Scott, and Nolan, here’s another one centered on an iconic filmmaker—though in this case, it’s a duo.
With a career spanning over four decades and a remarkable body of work, Joel and Ethan Coen are one of the great filmmakers of their generation. Their singular blend of dark humor, sharp dialogue, and genre-bending storytelling has cemented their place as modern American auteurs.
In recent years, the duo split up, their last film together was 2018’s “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” to pursue solo efforts, and with mixed results. A reunion has been hinted at, a horror film that’s already been written, but no timeline has been set.
When I asked around 100 critics to name their greatest Coen brothers films, the results highlighted not only the cultural impact of their classics, but also an intriguing reshuffling of critical consensus. ‘Lebowski’ was ranked lower than anticipated, and “A Serious Man” higher.
It’s hardly a surprise to see “Fargo” and “No Country for Old” Men at the top. They represent the two extremes of their genius: one a pitch-perfect mix of dark comedy and small-town horror, the other a tense, unforgiving meditation on fate and violence. “Fargo” solidified the Coens as storytellers with a singular voice, while “No Country for Old Men” won the Academy Award for Best Picture and cemented their status as modern masters of cinematic storytelling.
And then there were the true outliers: “Intolerable Cruelty,” “The Ladykillers”, ‘Buster Scruggs,’ and “Hail Caesar,” didn’t get a single vote, despite a few of them being strong entries in almost any other director’s filmography.
Perhaps the most fascinating shift? The critical reevaluation of “A Serious Man.” Initially well-reviewed, I don’t think many expected it to finish third on the poll, now ranking comfortably among the Coens’ most admired works. Time has been kind to its quiet, contemplative brilliance.
What these results underscore is that while the Coens will forever be associated with unforgettable set pieces and genre-defining work, their more subtle films (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “A Serious Man”) are gaining ground with critics. They are no longer just masters of darkly comic genre filmmaking—they are auteurs whose full body of work remains almost unmatched.
I asked more than 100 critics to select their top three Coen Brothers films, not an easy task, and here are the results.
1) Fargo — 67 votes
2) No Country For Old Men — 55
3) A Serious Man — 34
4) The Big Lebowski — 34
5) Miller’s Crossing — 28
6) Inside Llewyn Davis — 24
7) Raising Arizona — 22
8) Barton Fink — 16
9) Blood Simple — 14
10) The Man Who Wasn’t There — 8
11) True Grit — 6
12) Burn After Reading — 6
13) The Hudsucker Proxy — 5
14) O Brother Where Art Thou? — 5
PARTIAL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS:
Thelma Adams (AARP), Kaleem Aftab (BFI), Ethan Alter (Gold Derby), Jeffrey M. Anderson (SF Chronicle), David Ansen (Newsweek), Michael Atkinson (Village Voice), Nicolas Bell (IONCINEMA), Alex Billington (First Showing), John Bleasdale (Time Out), Uwe Boll (Filmmaker), Liz Braun (Toronto Star), Chris Bumbray (Joblo), Matt Brunson (Film Frenzy), Jim Brunzell (Freelance), Zach Caruso (Freelance), Erik Childress (eFilmCritic), Daryl Chin (Criterion), Nick Clement (Variety), Laura Clifford (Reeling Reviews), Adam Cook (CinemaScope), Clayton Davis (Variety), Tony Dayoub (CinemaViewFinder), Peter Debruge (Variety), Steve Dollar (The Wall Street Journal), Edward Douglas (Collider), David Edelstein (Slate), Max Evry (Critic/Author), Matt Fagerholm (Roger Ebert), Jim Farmer (OutOnFilm) Scott Feinberg (The Hollywood Reporter), Marshall Fine (NYFCC), Steve Finkelstein (FB Film Forum), Garth Franklin (Dark Horizons), Roger Friedman (Showbiz411), Karen Gordon (Freelance), David Greven (University of South Carolina), Matthew Hays (Concordia University), Patrick Heidmann (Freelance), Matt Hoffman (Film School Rejects), Peter Howell (Toronto Star), Andrea Hudson (Freelance), Richard T. Jameson (Film Comment), Mark Johnson (Awards Daily), Larry Karazewski (Screenwriter), Dave Karger (TCM), Elisabeth Karlin (Film Essayist) Don Kaye (Den of Geek), Peter Keough (Boston Phoenix), Harry Knowles (Aint It Cool), Robert Koehler (Film Comment), Eric Kohn (Edglrd), Kevin Laforest (Extra Beurre), Joanna Langfield (The Movie Minute), William LaRochelle (Freelance), Eric Lavallee (IONCINEMA), Pascal LeDuff (Le Telegramme), Craig Lindsey (Nashville Scene), Wesley Lovell (Cinema Sight), Rod Lurie (Filmmaker), Wade Major (KPCC-NPR Los Angeles), Eric Marchen (Rogers TV), Philip Martin (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette), Fred Melamed (Actor, A Serious Man), Steve Mears (Film Comment), Scott Mendelson (Puck), Scott Menzel (We Live Entertainment), Jared Mobarak (The Film Stage), Matt Neglia (Next Best Picture), John Nolte (Breitbart), Brian Owens (Calgary Film Festival), Michael Patterson (Michael’s Telluride Blog), Gerald Peary (The Arts Fuse), Miguel Pendas (BFI), Kyle Pinion (Screen Rex), Claudia Puig (USA Today), Dan Sallitt (Filmmaker), Mara Reinstein (US Weekly), Timothy Rhys (Movie Maker), Rene Rodriguez (Miami Herald), Nathaniel Rogers (The Film Experience), Jordan Ruimy (World of Reel), Ian Schultz (PsychothronicCinema), Niles Schwartz (Slant Magazine), Diego Semerene (Slant Magazine), Gene Seymour (Newsday), Don Shanahan (Film Obsessive), Steven Shaviro (Sense of Cinema), Jason Shawan (Nashville Scene), Amie Simon (I Love Splatter), Viguen Shirvanian (Culturopoing), Yael Shuv (Time Out Tel Aviv), Alex Simon (AFI), Jeff Sneider (The InSneider), Danielle Solzman (Solzy at the Movies), Marlow Stern (Rolling Stone), Tony Joe Stemme (Freelance), Sara Stewart (The New York Post), Herb Stratford (Tucson Film Festival), Bob Strauss (LA Weekly), Drew Taylor (TheWrap), Tommaso Tocci (IONCINEMA), Christian Toto (Toto in Hollywood), Benjamin Tovias (Yedioth Ahronoth), Mel Valentin (That Shelf), Daniel Waters (Screenwriter), Max Weiss (Baltimore Magazine), Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere), Armond White (National Review), Cam Williams, Chuck Wilson (LA Weekly), Matthew David Wilder (Filmmaker), Addison Wyle (The Wire Magazine)
The timing is interesting. The settlement talks will occur nearly a month after the $7 million-per-day ticking fee start tabulating, which puts real pressure on Paramount to get this done.