MovieChat Forums > Burn After Reading (2008) Discussion > This Film's Place in The Coen Canon

This Film's Place in The Coen Canon

posted 15 years ago by DavidLean
27 replies | jump to latest

Hello All,

I am a new member here and a pretty big Coen fan. I finally got to see Burn After Reading and I gotta say, this film is brilliant! What I enjoyed most were the parellels with "Fargo", the way in which very ordinary people with limited intellectual means get in over their heads, and the way it spirals. I was able to predict Chad's death but that did not detract - I know the ways of the Coens and a moment of extreme violence is always lurking. The nonchalance of the CIA guys was high comedy, and I like a good F-bomb as much as the next guy - Malkovich was awesome.

So I ask fellow Coen fans, where does this one rank in the Coen canon? I place it in the upper 1/3 tier - something like this:

Fargo
Lebowski
No Country
Miller's Crossing
Burn After Reading

My all-time least favorite is Intolerable Cruelty.

Cheers!

[–] hollywoodpsychic 15 years ago

First, I haven't seen 'A Serious Man' or 'The Man Who Wasn't There', so forgetting those for a moment, I'd put the following at the top of my list:

Fargo (1996)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Blood Simple (1984)

With these still rated high but slightly lower:

The Big Lebowski (1998)
Barton Fink (1991)
Raising Arizona (1987)

And these at the bottom:

Burn After Reading (2008)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Ladykillers (2004)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

Bearing in mind that none of these are bad movies in my opinion. The worst Coen Brothers film is still better than most anything else in theaters.

If I had to choose a "least favorite" I guess it'd be Ladykillers.

A lot of strange things happen in this world. Things you don't know about in Grand Rapids.

[–] michael-hunter8-1 14 years ago

Lebowski
Burn After Reading
Fargo
O Brother
Hudsucker
Raising Arizona

It's been a long time since I've seen Miller's Crossing or Blood Simple. I wasn't crazy about A Serious Man or The Man Who Wasn't there but I should watch them again and I hated Ladykillers. I think remakes of good movies are risky.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Number_Nein 14 years ago

The Ladykillers is their worst movie. And it is very bad. A 3 on the #9 meter.

Deo Gratias!!!
&
B-Rad Gluckman: Don't be hatin'
:)

[–] ZildjianDFW 14 years ago

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Fargo
3. The Big Lebowski
4. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
5. Barton Fink
6. Blood Simple
7. Miller's Crossing
8. The Man Who Wasn't There
9. A Serious Man
10. Raising Arizona
11. Burn After Reading
12. The Hudsucker Proxy
13. Intolerable Cruelty
14. The Ladykillers

[–] Pertwillaby 14 years ago

1. Miller's Crossing 9/10
2. No Country For Old Men 9/10
3. Fargo 9/10
4. The Big Lebowski 8/10
5. Burn After Reading 8/10
6. Raising Arizona 8/10
7. Barton Fink 7/10
8. O Brother, Where Art Thou? 7/10
9. Blood Simple 7/10
10. The Man Who Wasn't There 7/10
11. Intolerable Cruelty 6/10
12. The Ladykillers 5/10
13. The Hudsucker Proxy 5/10

(I need to rewatch A Serious Man.)

THIS YEAR: PETER WEIR RETURNS!

[–] TheFilmFreak1 14 years ago

THE COEN'S TOP SIX:

1. Burn After Reading (10/10)
2. The Man Who Wasn't There (10/10)
3. A Serious Man (10/10)
4. The Big Lebowski (9/10)
5. No Country for Old Men (9/10)
6. The Ladykillers (8/10)

[–] Djambulat90 14 years ago

Well, out of the ones I've seen so far I'll rank them like this.

1. No Country For Old Men
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Burn After Reading
4. Fargo

[–] SpideyFan914 14 years ago

Here's my rankings:

1. Burn After Reading (9.0/10)
2. A Serious Man (8.8/10)
3. The Big Lebowski (8.5/10)
4. Raising Arizona (8.0/10)
5. Blood Simple (7.6/10)
6. No Country For Old Men (7.5/10)
7. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (7.0/10)
8. True Grit (6.8/10)

I have also seen Fargo, but there were WAY too many distractions at the end of a LONG Coen Bros. marathon, and I need to rewatch it. No Country could also use a rewatching.

But yeah, aside from A Serious Man, which I saw a while back, I surprisingly watched all those other ones just over the past month, so I'm a fairly new fan. But Burn After Reading has to be my favorite, easily - it was just so ridiculous and absurd and awesome.

"So what have we learned from all this?"
"Well, I guess we learned not to do it again!"
"Yes.... But what did we do?"

[–] Primeval_Scum 14 years ago

Favorite to Least Favorite. [I love or like them all though]

No Country For Old Men (10)
Burn After Reading (8)
Fargo (8)
Big Lebowski (7)
A Serious Man (7)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (7)
Ladykillers (6)
Intolerable Cruelty (6)

Haven't seen the others yet. =(

[–] fang123horn 14 years ago

I HATED Burn After Reading, It was like the guys who directed Disaster Movie and Epic Movie decided to dress up like the coen brothers and write and directed a movie in their name. Well here's my list:

1. Barton Fink - 10/10
2. Miller's Crossing - 10/10
3. The Hudsucker Proxy - 9/10
4. True Grit - 10/10
5. The Big Lebowski - 10/10
6. A Serious Man - 9/10
7. Fargo-9/10
8. No Country For Old Men - 9/10
9. The Ladykillers - 9/10
10. Blood Simple - 9/10
11. Burn After Reading - 3/10

Haven't seen the others.

[–] Zero_Wolf 14 years ago

No better than 5th for me, as I like Lebowski, Miller's, No Country, and Fargo better. It's perhaps tied with Barton.

[–] jingster666 14 years ago

Fargo
The Man Who Wasn't There
The Big Lebowski
Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou"

I consider "Fargo" to be their only masterpiece.

(I'm not Jewish enough to understand "A Serious Man")

[–] 14 years ago

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