FARGO or THE BIG LEBOWSKI?
 

I'm sure I know which way this poll will go, but I can't resist leading myself to slaughter. So, which is the better film, FARGO or it's unrelated follow-up, THE BIG LEBOWSKI? Allow me to say in advance, though I have enjoyed more Coen Brothers films than I haven't (out of the small group I've seen), I just never find myself jazzed to seek out their films; I have to stumble upon them by accident. To show that I'm really relatively Coren Brothers-ignorant, I've only seen RAISING ARIZONA (adore it), THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (amusing, but not something I'd purchase) and the two titles being queried. I haven't seen:

The Ladykillers (2004)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Barton Fink (1991)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Blood Simple (1984)

Now that we've covered that I'm not a devotee of Coen Brothers films, I'll really hurt my case further by saying (brace yourselves) I do not whatsoever understand the appeal of FARGO. I will grant it one shining accolade and that is that it has some absolutely riveting, even breathtaking, cinematography, but I find the story to be sluggishly told and many of the performances to be played a too broadly for what the story seems to be asking. It's artfully told, granted, but what is being told just doesn't add up to much for me, and though I believe comedy and tragedy can co-exist effectively, even profoundly, in certain stories, I found FARGO's mix to be awkward, with insufficient pay-off to either quality. It may be, IMO, the single most overrated film of the '90s (certainly in the Top 5). Conversely, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the next film in the Coen's oeuvre, and one less financially successful than FARGO, I find to be a masterpiece saturated with belly laughs. It's just a perfect little gem of a film, with spot-on performances and comedy that delivers 100% of the time, bouyed along by expert direction and more of that fine Deakins cinematography. I know most Coen Brothers fans love them both, but for me, FARGO doesn't even register as a speck on LEBOWSKI's horizon, so I'm curious to see how many people a) feel like me or b) would like to take a crack at making me understand why FARGO is considered to be the shining pinnacle of the Coen Brothers' career.

Big Lebowski is a big gooey sundae with three flavors of ice cream and ten kinds of topping. It tastes really, really good. It's also pure indulgence. It's a nice change of pace but not a substitute for a real meal.

Fargo is like a perfectly prepared steak. You might dismiss it as being too simple and plain -- until you eat a bunch of lesser steaks, and then you realize how hard it is to bring off.

I'm in a steak mood tonight, so I voted Fargo.

To my mind both Miller's Crossing and Barton Fink are better than both of these, though that's probably a minority opinion.

But is FARGO really saying something more profound than THE BIG LEBOWSKI or does its more diliberate, partially played straight-and-dark style just make it seem like it is? What makes FARGO a steak and LEBOWSKI a well-directed trifle? Neither seems to carry much narrative weight, but LEBOWSKI seems much more comfortable in its cinematic skin. FARGO seems too bipolar to know what it wants to say and how it wants to say it.

I'd say that they're different types of humor. I've been told more than once that it's weird that I like the Big Lebowski, primarily because I DON'T smoke pot. :shrug:

Didn't care for TBL, but own and adore Fargo.

i would put a few coen bros. movies above the big lebowski. fargo being one of them.

IMO, Fargo by far.

Don't feel bad; I love the film and have never even smoked a regular cigarette in my life, much less a doob.

:up:
1. Miller's Crossing
2. Blood Simple
The Hudsucker Proxy (tie)
4. The Man Who Wasn't There
5. Fargo
6. Barton Fink
7. The Big Lebowski
Intolerable Cruelty (tie)

:down:
9. Raising Arizona
10. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Ladykillers (tie)

The Big Lebowski is endlessly hilarious and refreshing, but Fargo is truly brilliant.

that pretty much sums it up.

Damn...just...damn...

Well, I'm getting a lot of nice hyperbole, great quotes for DVD covers, but no one is willing to take a few moments to quantify what's actually so ever-lovin' brilliant (besides the cinematography) about the lackluster FARGO???

For me it's between fargo, millers crossing, and big lebowski. The rest of their films are only okay.

For me, what mainly registers is the quiet desperation and simple pleasures of ordinary midwestern lives, the absurd ways that people cover up their emotional and intellectual gaps, and the alternating pointlessness and delicate cuteness of their existence.

I love Fargo, MC, RA. Never got TBL.

It's all about THE DUDE! I love The Big lebowski

I agree with Filmmaker here. Lebowski by a country mile. In Fargo I just found every character to be an unfunny caricature. I might've enjoyed the movie more if it weren't for the characters and the overblown accents.

Overblown accents? OVERBLOWN ACCENTS ??? DRG have you ever even been to... Oh, wait... nevermind.

Fargo for me

Lebowski...and I'll take raising arizona over both

I was gonna mention the same thing... so Strong Agreement here.

Of the choices above I'd take The Big Lebowski, However, I'm sure I'm in the Minority when I say my favorite Coen Bros. film is O Brother where art thou?

I saw Fargo repeatedly after its original release and just picked up the SE a few months ago. I was surprised by how well the film holds up, and how much of a quicker pace it has on repeated viewings. To me, Fargo lacks the forced-quirkiness of a lot of Coen Bros. movies. Or, let's say, that the characters are quirky because they are, not because the Coens wrote them that way. And the two sides of the coin, William H. Macy's quiet desperation and Frances McDormand's simple, no-nonsense determination are great. The Big Lebowski is good, but it's sort of the Kill Bill to Fargo's Reservoir Dogs.

(P.S.: I love Kill Bill).

Fargo's the better film overall but Lebowski is the funnier of the two easily (and still a great film too).

I would've opted for other if that was a choice, but instead I chose Fargo.

The Big Lebowski has it's moments that are hilarious, but Fargo might've been one of the Coen's last great films. But that's just on the basis of Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers just not being good. ;)