I have seen every Coen brothers movie except for the most recent one, The Ladykillers. I have only seen two Farrelly brothers movies: Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary. I watched some of Kingpin, but not all of it. I definitely prefer the Coen brothers, and I think that stylistically, the two pairs of directors we’re talking about here are wildly different.
My favorite movie of theirs is Fargo, which I think is one of the greatest movies ever made. The script, acting, visuals and pacing of this film are A+ quality.
Since based on the above information, a reader could be forgiven if they assumed I can’t enjoy a movie unless it is “art”, I should also hasten to add that I did enjoy watching the two Farrelly brothers movies I have seen. However, I also would rate Blood Simple and Miller’s Crossing higher than those, and four other Coen brothers movies at the same level, so I feel that overall, the Coen brothers are much better.
Now, since I have a spreadsheet that has box office statistics, I can tell you that, by and large, the “viewing public” vastly prefers the Farrellys. Check out these grosses:
Dumb and Dumber $127,175,374
Kingpin $24,958,270
There's Something About Mary $176,484,652
Me, Myself & Irene $90,567,722
Osmosis Jones $13,596,911
Shallow Hal $70,836,296
Stuck On You $33,828,318
Now, obviously they’ve had a few clunkers, and this doesn’t account for the DVD/video rentals/sales, but their average gross of 76mil is 30 million more than what the Coen brothers’ most successful (in theaters) movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou grossed. I draw no conclusions from these statistics. However, you may feel free to do so. 