Welcome to the Hotel Earle. What a dump. Mosquito-ravaged, peeling wallpaper, springy mattresses and boy is it hot in here. This is the symbolic backdrop of the Coen Brothers' brilliant satire about an arrogant playwright lured to 1940’s Hollywood to write for the movies and gets more than he bargained for.

When we meet Barton Fink (John Turturro) he’s a left-wing New York playwright enjoying both success and critical acclaim for his truthful, proletarian hand-wringing theatre productions. But when movie mogul Jack Lipnick lures Barton to the bright lights of Hollywood he’s soon set to work writing scripts for wrestling pictures and Wallace Beery vehicles. Trapped inside the Earle, our poet of the working man is having a serious case of writers block. Thankfully, help is at hand from travelling salesman (and fellow Earle resident) Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), who certainly has some stories to tell if Barton would only listen. Distracted by a higher calling and the seductive lure of the secretary of one W.P Mayew – a renowed playwright who spends most of his day as a raging drunk – Barton begins to find out quite literally that between Heaven and Hell, there’s always Hollywood.

Of all the great movies that the Coens have done throughout the years, their hellish concoction of comedy and weirdness between the walls of the Hotel Earle remains right up there with their very best. This ticket is a hot one, so make a reservation quick.

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