Most critics respond warmly to Barton Fink, with praise clustering around the Coens’ visual control, literate writing and performances. John Turturro and John Goodman receive repeated attention, while Michael Lerner’s studio mogul is another source of approval. The favourable reviews find the mixture of Hollywood satire, psychological unease and absurd comedy assured, with several seeing a sharp attack on writers whose concern for ordinary people exceeds their willingness to listen to them.
The spread is wide, however, and the central disagreement concerns how much the film has to say beneath its elaborate style. The Guardian admires its imagination but questions its substance, while the Los Angeles Times finds it amusing without being convinced that it adds up. The New Yorker is more firmly opposed, treating the allusions and twists as empty display. Even some sympathetic reviews therefore share the sceptics’ reservations about what all that technique achieves.