Fargo, 1996

The movie begins with Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy, Oleanna, Stealing Sinatra), a car salesman with financial troubles. Jerry hires two men, the "funny looking" Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi, The Island) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), to kidnap his wife for a sum of $80,000 ransom money. The kidnappers are to receive a new car and half of the ransom. The plan falls apart when a state trooper pulls over the kidnappers near Brainerd, (with Jerry's wife in the back of the car under a blanket). After an unsuccessful bribe attempt by Showalter, Grimsrud murders the policeman and two witnesses who drive by. The deaths are investigated by local police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand, Blood Simple, Aeon Flux). This movie has many elements of "Blood Simple", both movies are Coen Brothers films. I agree with people who classify this movie as a classic. It is by far one of my favorites. Frances McDormand nailed an Academy Award with her performance in this movie. The performances turned in by this cast is nothing short of phenomenal, this movie definitely put Steve Buscemi on the map. I Give this movie 5*****Stars.

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There are very few movies which I can call masterpieces or say blow me away, and the Coen Brother's masterpiece Fargo is one of them. A character driven story, Fargo is a must-see for fans of dark comedy, but also offers up some powerful scenes. It's all fueled by some of the best dialogue ever written. Ignore jellybeansdonteatpeople's review, and rent Fargo, it'll get you a nights worth of intelligent entertainment.

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The Coen Brothers are entertainers above everything else. They like to make sure that you know the blood is entertainment, so they usually make sure you are laughing at the same time you are recoiling in horror. In the same way that when you are on a rollercoaster, you're frightened and having fun at the same time. If laughing and recoiling in horror are not sensations that you like to have simultaneously, this movie is not for you, and the Coen Brothers are not for you. Now, about the accents, yes, they are exaggerated. This is to accentuate the plot of the movie. There are two other Coen Brothers movies where the setting and the local accents of the setting are exaggerated in this manner as well: Raising Arizona, and to a lesser extent O Brother, Where Art Thou. I grew up not far from Minneapolis. To me, "Fargo" is about the Midwest. The impression people on the coasts have of Midwesterners is that they are nice, polite, harmless simpletons. But the Midwest actually has its share of murderers and other bad seeds. So why are Midwesterners perceived to be so nice? This movie has the nice polite Midwest bumping up against the evil, grizzly Midwest. The nice polite Midwest wins.

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i love this movie. it's clever, it's darkly comic, Peter Stormare and Frances McDormand act amazingly well and the direction and writing by the Cohen brothers are great as always. one of the best crime movies of the 90s, i think it's better than "No country for old men" - another great cohen's movie that has a lot in common with Fargo.

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