Ranking All Of The Coen Brother’s Movies
“What are Joel & Ethan Coen Best Movies?” We looked at all of The Coen’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!
We took all of the movies directed by the Coen Brother’s and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.
The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page. We will update the article if/when a new movie by The Coen’s is released. Although it probably won’t be immediate so the scores on each site have time to settle and aren’t overly influenced by the early, usually much more opinionated, users.
Happy Viewing!
The Top Film’s Of The Coen Brother’s
17 ) The Ladykillers (2004)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 17
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 17
- Metacritc Critic Score: 16
- Metacritic User Score: 16
- IMDB User Review Score: 17
- Letterboxd User Score: 17
An eccentric, if not charming Southern professor and his crew pose as a band in order to rob a casino, all under the nose of his unsuspecting landlord – a sharp old woman.
16 ) Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 15
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 15
- Metacritc Critic Score: 9
- Metacritic User Score: 15
- IMDB User Review Score: 15
- Letterboxd User Score: 16
A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.
15 ) Burn After Reading (2008)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 13
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 14
- Metacritc Critic Score: 14
- Metacritic User Score: 14
- IMDB User Review Score: 13
- Letterboxd User Score: 14
When a disc containing memoirs of a former CIA analyst falls into the hands of Linda Litzke and Chad Feldheimer, the two gym employees see a chance to make enough money for her to have life-changing cosmetic surgery. Predictably, events whirl out of control for the duo doofuses and those in their orbit.
13 Tie ) Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 10
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 16
- Metacritc Critic Score: 8
- Metacritic User Score: 17
- IMDB User Review Score: 15
- Letterboxd User Score: 15
Tells the comedic tale of Eddie Mannix, a fixer who worked for the Hollywood studios in the 1950s. The story finds him at work when a star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming.
13 Tie ) The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 16
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 11
- Metacritc Critic Score: 17
- Metacritic User Score: 12
- IMDB User Review Score: 12
- Letterboxd User Score: 13
A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.
12 ) A Serious Man (2009)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 9
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 13
- Metacritc Critic Score: 6
- Metacritic User Score: 13
- IMDB User Review Score: 13
- Letterboxd User Score: 9
A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman.
11 ) The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 11
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 10
- Metacritc Critic Score: 7
- Metacritic User Score: 7
- IMDB User Review Score: 8
- Letterboxd User Score: 9
A tale of passion, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris’ infidelity presents him with a chance to change it.
10 ) Raising Arizona (1987)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
- Metacritc Critic Score: 15
- Metacritic User Score: 2
- IMDB User Review Score: 11
- Letterboxd User Score: 9
The Coen Brothers tell the story of a absurd yet likable family with an unproductive couple as the focal point. The couple has gotten themselves into some trouble while kidnapping a baby and give Hollywood one of the most memorable chase scenes to date.
9 ) O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 14
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
- Metacritc Critic Score: 10
- Metacritic User Score: 8
- IMDB User Review Score: 4
- Letterboxd User Score: 6
In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them. On their journey they come across many comical characters and incredible situations. Based upon Homer’s ‘Odyssey’.
8 ) True Grit (2010)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
- Metacritc Critic Score: 5
- Metacritic User Score: 8
- IMDB User Review Score: 8
- Letterboxd User Score: 12
Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. Marshal she can find, a man with “true grit,” Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn. Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The unlikely trio find danger and adventure on the journey, and each has his or her “grit” tested.
7 ) Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 12
- Metacritc Critic Score: 1
- Metacritic User Score: 10
- IMDB User Review Score: 10
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future following the suicide of his singing partner.
6 ) Barton Fink (1991)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
- Metacritc Critic Score: 10
- Metacritic User Score: 6
- IMDB User Review Score: 6
- Letterboxd User Score: 4
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
5 ) Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 3
- Metacritc Critic Score: 13
- Metacritic User Score: 2
- IMDB User Review Score: 4
- Letterboxd User Score: 6
Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.
4 ) Blood Simple (1984)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 2
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 6
- Metacritc Critic Score: 4
- Metacritic User Score: 5
- IMDB User Review Score: 6
- Letterboxd User Score: 6
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
3 ) The Big Lebowski (1998)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 11
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
- Metacritc Critic Score: 10
- Metacritic User Score: 2
- IMDB User Review Score: 1
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink white Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.
2 ) No Country for Old Men (2007)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 7
- Metacritc Critic Score: 2
- Metacritic User Score: 10
- IMDB User Review Score: 2
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
Llewelyn Moss stumbles upon dead bodies, $2 million and a hoard of heroin in a Texas desert, but methodical killer Anton Chigurh comes looking for it, with local sheriff Ed Tom Bell hot on his trail. The roles of prey and predator blur as the violent pursuit of money and justice collide.
1 ) Fargo (1996)
Review Website Ranks:
- Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes Users: 2
- Metacritc Critic Score: 3
- Metacritic User Score: 1
- IMDB User Review Score: 2
- Letterboxd User Score: 1
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt… but he’s got a plan. He’s going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It’s going to be a snap and nobody’s going to get hurt… until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing – and extremely pregnant – investigator who’ll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom… you betcha!
Coen Brother’s Best Movies
Joel & Ethan Coen Review Website Filmography Rankings
| Film | RT Critic | RT User | MC Critic | MC User | IMDB | Letterboxd | Overal Rank |
| Fargo | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| No Country for Old Men | 3 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| The Big Lebowski | 11 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Blood Simple | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Miller’s Crossing | 6 | 3 | 13 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 |
| Barton Fink | 6 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| Inside Llewyn Davis | 3 | 12 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 4 | 7 |
| True Grit | 1 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 8 |
| O Brother, Where Art Thou? | 14 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 9 |
| Raising Arizona | 6 | 8 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 10 |
| The Man Who Wasn’t There | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 |
| A Serious Man | 9 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 9 | 12 |
| Hail, Caesar! | 10 | 16 | 8 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 13 |
| The Hudsucker Proxy | 16 | 11 | 17 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 |
| Burn After Reading | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Intolerable Cruelty | 15 | 15 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
| The Ladykillers | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
