The author who hates the Coen brothers: “I despised them with every fibre of my being”
Angelina Jolie once said that, of all directors, the Coen brothers are the most diverse. “One can be so full of humour and the next can be so frightening, but you always know going into a Coen brothers movie that it’ll be something special,” she said.
For many reasons, it’s hard to dispute her argument. Even someone who knows very little about their work will take one look at their credentials and realise that, yes, there’s a lot of diversity there, even among their best-known titles. You’ve got your black comedies – Inside Llewyn Davis, Burn After Reading – you’ve got Westerns – No Country for Old Men, True Grit – and then a handful of others that pull from several threads and defy easy categorisation.
Most people, when asked their favourite, immediately point to No Country for Old Men. It makes sense; it’s also the one that Jolie said was her favourite, and one that continues to define the entire legacy of the Coen brothers. Beyond that, it’s the film that also gave Javier Bardem an Oscar, standing on its own as a proud masterclass in novel-to-film adaptations.
Within that are the many facets of the Coen brothers’ mastery – their ability to move between different genres and styles has become a mainstay of their artistry, as has the moments where there are genuinely some of the most casually genius moments in all of cinema, many of which come across with the type of easy organic charm that most can only ever really pull off with complete and utter confidence in what it is that they’re doing.
One of the main features is also their ability to weave in comedic one-liners at any turn, the kind that’s comforting and easy, a true reflection of how things often play out in real life and, often, a good balance between slightly dry and solid enough to land well. Sometimes, the comedy element of the Coen brothers is what people turn to when explaining why they can be hit or miss, choosing instead to praise the more serious projects, but for some, the comedy is where they shine the most.
Author Geoff Dyer couldn’t disagree more. As someone who’s frequently praised for being able to blend humour with the meticulous nature of personal experience, Dyer has a firm concept of what it means to add sprinklings of humour into stories that resonate. And when it comes to the Coen brothers, humour, according to Dyer, is anything but their strong suit.
In fact, the author once had some choice words for the directors during an interview at 192 Books, when he explained exactly why he has a particular distaste for the beloved brothers. “When I’m in a Coen brothers film, in a cinema, I’m surrounded by all of these people laughing their heads off, and I’m sitting there stone-faced,” said Dyer. “And the reason I’m not laughing and they are is because I have a sense of humour and they don’t.”
He used one scene in Fargo as an example of “humour for people with no sense of humour” and that was the moment that he realised he “despised them with every fibre of my being”. He even said that the Big Lebowski became “tiresome quickly” and that many of their choices, like No Country for Old Men, fall flat because of their “childish attitudes toward violence”.
He went on, saying that True Grit seemed “entirely pointless” and that the only thing that he remembers about Raising Arizona is “the vehemence of my own aversion to it”.
Dyer’s comments might seem harsh, but they’re also opinions shared by many viewers who struggle to get into the Coen brothers’ work, beyond the basic reasons why their comedy might not be for everybody. For Dyer and others, it’s about distinctive perspectives and styles, and how some themes might be tackled from a place that’s difficult to connect with, purely because of subjective views on how certain things should be brought to life on screen.
