The films on this list accrued a total of $655 million at the worldwide box office off a combined budget of $210 million. Plus, they garnered Joel and Ethan Coen seven nominations at the Academy Awards: two for Best Picture, one for Best Director, two for Best Adapted Screenplay, one for Best Original Screenplay, and one for Best Editing. That’s not even touching on the other accolades these films accrued regarding performances, cinematography, and more.
Most entries on this list are among the most revered of their careers. And, sure, the first film featured herein offered little content worth writing home about from a perspective of sheer quality. But aside from that, these films pretty much hit the qualitative nail on its head. All that said, this is every movie from Joel and Ethan Coen throughout the 2000s, ranked.
7 The Ladykillers
This entry on paper had all the makings of a hit with critics and audiences alike: The Coen Brothers at the helm as captains of the ship, with Tom Hanks as their first mate, the lead actor. And the ship itself was built by William Rose, who wrote the script to the original version of The Ladykillers (1955) starring Alec Guinness. That project goes down among the greatest British films of all time, with a 100% approval rating on critical consensus website Rotten Tomatoes. On the other hand, The Ladykillers (2004) by Joel and Ethan Coen holds a rather modest rating of 54% on the aforementioned website.
There’s no telling what went wrong. It’s a script with solid story structure as it focuses on Professor G.H. Dorr (played by Hanks) who thinks he’s joining a classical music ensemble. Instead, he walks into a heist plan concocted by a group of thieves. Marlon Wayans and J.K. Simmons appear in supporting roles — two other well-known names that should have bolstered the quality of The Ladykillers in general. Instead, it came up short pretty much all around. But it isn’t the worst film you’ll read about today. If you’re a hardcore fan of the Coen Brothers, it could very well be for you.
6 Intolerable Cruelty
If there’s one thing you can expect from this list, it’s the appearance of George Clooney. He’s one of the most frequent actors among the stable of Joel and Ethan Coen, with three of their four collaborations coming in the decade at hand. And with Intolerable Cruelty (2003), he appears in the lead role as Miles Massey. Showing up as his co-star is Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays Marilyn Hamilton Rexroth Doyle Massey. And fans of the Coen Brothers should not at all be shocked at the absurdity of her full name.
The plot of Intolerable Cruelty follows Miles as a well-regarded divorce lawyer with a specialty: preventing any significant settlements against husbands who cheat on their wives. It was well-executed, too, with a witty script and a star-studded supporting cast: Cedric the Entertainer, Billy Bob Thornton, Geoffrey Rush, and Richard Jenkins. This project targets the general audience more so than their usual outlandish efforts with absurd plots and off-the-wall dialogue. But Intolerable Cruelty nonetheless features some idiosyncratic touches from the Coens that lands it here at number six.
5 O Brother, Where Art Thou?
This is easily among the most famous Coen Brothers movies of their career, let alone of the 2000s, and this placement at number five shouldn’t speak entirely to its quality. This is a solid effort of screenwriting, cinematography, and acting across the board: George Clooney, Tim Blake Nelson, and John Turturro lead the cast.
But of course, the most notable element of filmmaking worth noting with regard to O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) would have to be its iconic and memorable soundtrack. Southern folk music inspirations rendered songs like “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” some of the catchiest tunes from this generation of cinema — perhaps of all time, in the eyes of some fans. The soundtrack broke records galore, reaching number one on Billboard 200 upon release, and it’s still selling copies to this day. It’s one of the many points worth noting along with the hilarious performances and witty script — loosely based on Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey — when landing O Brother here at number five.
4 Burn After Reading
John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Tilda Swinton — actors of that caliber were the only ones who could’ve pulled off the absurd nature of Burn After Reading (2008) and actually get away with it. Although critics weren’t exactly over the moon about its quality, audiences lined up en masse to see its star-studded cast in action, with $163 million accrued at the worldwide box office on a $37 million budget. Pretty impressive numbers, especially when considering the inanity of its plot.
Following Linda Litzke (McDormand’s character) and Chad Feldheimer (played by Pitt) as employees at a gym who stumble upon secret government documents, an ex-CIA analyst named Osbourne Cox (played by Malkovich) stumbles after them to retrieve what he lost. That doesn’t even account for Clooney’s character, or Swinton’s, or even Richard Jenkins and J.K. Simmons. But rest assured in knowing that each of those names performed in Burn After Reading exactly as they were supposed to, as the Coens always deliver a rock-solid script. Sure, sometimes the execution can be off, as with the earlier films on the list. But that’s definitely not the case with Burn After Reading.
3 A Serious Man
At the 82nd Academy Awards, the Coen Brothers received their third overall nomination for Best Picture and their second for Best Original Screenplay. The film itself received nominations from the BAFTA Awards and the Golden Globes, too. But even still, A Serious Man (2009) remains rather underrated throughout filmography of Joel and Ethan Coen.
Among their many staples is their impressive stable of actors, including the aforementioned performers in Frances McDormand and George Clooney. But with A Serious Man, the name worth noting regarding collaborations with the Coen Brothers would be the director of photography, Roger Deakins. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest cinematographers to ever live, if he isn’t the best outright. And this was the tenth of twelve total movies in which he worked with Joel and Ethan. His efforts bear fruit in this story of a Jewish man from Minnesota whose life crumbles before him both personally and professionally. It’s a truly moving plot from the filmmakers at hand, and Deakins captured its beauty with an unmatched poised and tangible passion. It’s undoubtedly among their best of the decade.
2 The Man Who Wasn’t There
From a cinematographic standpoint, The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) stands out among the Coen Brothers’ filmography unlike any film that came before it, and few that came thereafter. In other words: it’s presented in black-and-white, with heavy inspirations of the neo-noir subgenre. The only other project throughout their careers to appear in black and white was The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021), a solo outing from Joel.
But this stars Billy Bob Thorton as Ed Crane, one of the more intriguing personalities throughout the animated roster of Coen characters. He isn’t over-the-top with his dialogue or exaggerated in his facial expressions. He’s cool and calm, and the camerawork from Roger Deakins portrays him in a specific light — or lack thereof, in this case — that truly resembles the protagonists of classic film noirs. Deakins outdid himself herein with regard to shot value, and is one of two Coen collaborators worth noting. The other, of course, is Frances McDormand. She plays Ed’s wife Dorris, with other roles portrayed by the likes of Richard Jenkins and Scarlett Johansson. The Man Who Wasn’t There hits home on every level of technical filmmaking imaginable, even if the techniques are more subtle.
1 No Country for Old Men
Likely the film you expected to see come out on top, No Country for Old Men (2007) showcases a masterclass of every craft involved, from its awe-inspiring performances and masterful direction to its carefully chosen color palettes and intense, thought-out sound design. Details of that last quality could comprise this entry by themselves, as non-diegetic music doesn’t exist herein, and diegetic sounds are few and far between. The silencer to Anton Chigurh’s Remington 11-87 shotgun was specifically designed for the film, and the suppressed effect it emits was actually achieved through the laborious efforts of the film’s sound team. It’s not a real silencer, in other words, and doesn’t actually exist. It’s supposed to be implied that antagonist Anton Chigurh designed it himself.
And that sort of attention to character details highlights the film’s quality better than its brilliant direction under Joel and Ethan, better than the dialogue that stemmed from Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel of the same name, and better than the performances of its talented cast. Anton singlehandedly drives the conflict for the fictional characters and the intrigue for the real-life audience, and almost lands this film at the top by himself. But Josh Brolin performs well as Llewelyn, Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean, and of course Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell. The behind-the-scenes efforts regarding direction, camerawork, and editing facilitated the perfect film.
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