Guest Author - Lauren Evans

Writers, directors and producers of films since the early 80s, the Coen Brothers have recently made a return to the comedy movies that made their name with Burn After Reading. Here are my favourite 5 Coen Brothers comedy movies.

5 - Raising Arizona

Nicholas Cage and Holly Hunter star as a childless couple, one an ex-cop and one an ex-con, who are desperate for a child to complete their unconventional family. Hi (Cage) and Ed (Hunter) McDunnough decide to kidnap one of a set of quintuplets born to a rich local family, as after all, they probably wouldn't miss just one. Unfortunately for the pair, Junior's parents do notice his absence and mount a search, and when Hi's fresh out of prison pals Gale (John Goodman) and Evelle (William Forsythe) catch onto the ruse and spy a business opportunity, Junior Arizona suddenly becomes seriously hot property.

4 - The Big Lebowski

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) takes offence at being confused with Jeffrey Lebowski the multimillionaire, especially when it leads to someone peeing on his favourite rug. The other Jeffrey Lebowski has bigger issues, as his trophy wife appears to have been kidnapped by German nihilists. 'The Big Lebowski' boasts a stellar cast including Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Julianne Moore and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and it makes the most of all of them. John Turturro is fantastic as Jesus Quintana, the Hispanic bowling sensation, and you'll never forget John Goodman's lesson about what happens when you *ahem* a stranger in the unmentionables. Best consumed with many many White Russians.

3 – Fargo

Set mostly in Minnesota (and just a little bit in North Dakota), 'Fargo' begins with just one crime, masterminded by Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and carried out by Swedish crooks Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) and Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi), which sparks a chain of small-town murders. Pregnant cop Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) is determined to get the bottom of the mystery, but to do so, she needs to talk to a lot of odd people. Part of Fargo's charm is the Scandinavian-American characters, with the "Minnesota nice" hospitality and the singsong accents (similar to Norwegian or Swedish), often juxtaposed with extreme violence and pretty nasty criminal intent. Still worth watching 12 years after it's release? Oh yah, you betcha.

2 - Burn After Reading

The latest Coen Brothers release, and featuring yet another star-studded cast (John Malkovich, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand), the comedy centres around Osbourne Cox (Malkovich), a CIA analyst whose life begins to fall apart when he is forced to quit the agency because of his drink problem. His ice-cold paediatrician wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) resents the additional time he spends at home, as it makes it more difficult for her to conduct her affair with Harry Pfarrer (Clooney). Things are made even more confusing when gym workers Linda Litzke (McDormand) and Chad Feldheimer (Pitt) stumble across what they believe to be classified information and see the opportunity to make some extra cash by selling it. Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt are perfect as the clueless, bumbling wannabe spies, and Tilda Swinton is nothing short of terrifying as poor Osbourne Cox's evil wife. J.K. Simmons also puts in a quality performance as the CIA big cheese who becomes increasingly confused by the unfolding events.

1 - The Hudsucker Proxy

While box office performance for 'Hudsucker' was poor, over the years it's become a sleeper hit, and certainly holds a place in my heart as my favourite Coen Brothers movie. Scheming Hudsucker Industries director Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman) decides to artificially depress the company's stock price by employing “some jerk” as the president, with the intention of buying up the controlling interest. Unfortunately, the jerk he elects to run the company, Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), has a genius idea for a simple toy that becomes an American craze, making more money than they ever thought possible. Hard-nosed reporter Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) smells a story in the making, and poses as a small-town girl from Barnes' hometown of Muncie, Indiana to get a job within the company. She strikes gold when she meets up with our narrator, Moses, caretaker of the Hudsucker building’s clock and the man who knows "just about anything if it concerns Hudsucker". 'Hudsucker' was slammed for being a rehash of old movies, and it’s not hard to see elements from 'Trading Places', 'Mr. Deeds'/'Mr. Deeds Goes to Town' and 'It’s A Wonderful Life' here, but it's the Coen brothers approach, combining dark comedy with affectionate charm and a beautifully realised 1950s New York backdrop, that makes this film such a treat. This year, remember that it's just not Christmas until you've seen The Hudsucker Proxy - I'd stake my Pulitzer on it!