Fargo (1996)

Average rating

(74%)

Starring:	Frances McDormand \| Steve Buscemi \| Peter Stormare \| Harve Presnell \| William H. Macy
Director:	Joel Coen
Studio:	MGM HOME ENT. (EUROPE) LTD.
Run time:	94 mins
Collections:	100 Feisty Females \| American Film Institute's top 100
Genres:	Thriller
Languages:	English
Released:	April 21, 2003

Poor Jerry Lundegaard. He's deep in debt. His wealthy father-in-law has no respect for him. He cheats customers at the car dealership where he works. And now he's hired a bumbling duo to kidnap his wife--a plan that goes horribly awry, leading to homicide.
Enter Marge Gunderson, one of the most fabulous movie cops in film history. The very-pregnant Marge--played marvelously by Frances McDormand in an Oscar-winning and career-defining performance--just goes about her everyday business, eating (in nearly every scene), talking to the people in the community, and examining bloody corpses as if no day is different from the next. A multiple murder in the small town of Brainerd, Minnesota--home of Paul Bunyan, as the sign claims--seems to have little effect on her. Yet she has an innate cop sense--she is very, very good at her job and determined to solve the case in her offhanded manner.
FARGO is yet another offbeat, highly entertaining film from the Coen brothers (BARTON FINK, BLOOD SIMPLE). The film is nearly colorless; instead, director of photography Roger Deakins washes the screen in the blinding white of the snow, occasionally breaking for the drab grays and browns of police uniforms and winter jackets. Carter Burwell's score further enhances the slow, steady pace of this oddly funny and compelling film. The Coens have once again populated their film with a slew of bizarre characters, with outstanding performances delivered by all, particularly the edgy William H. Macy, the quietly luminous McDormand, the nearly psychotic Steve Buscemi, and the oh-so-cold Peter Stormare.

Radio Times

The Coen brothers (director/writer Joel, producer/writer Ethan) are on top form with this quirky, unconventional, comedy-tinged crime thriller set in snowy Minnesota. Amateur kidnappers Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare leave a trail of dead bodies that is investigated, with rare instinct and understanding, by heavily pregnant police chief Frances McDormand (who won an Oscar for her performance). Supposedly inspired by a true story, the Coens neatly subvert thriller clichés for their own surreal and philosophical ends, while retaining the genre's old-fashioned virtues and screw-tightening tension. While sweet-natured mirth is combined with deliciously twisted malice, and gory horror merges with offbeat humour, the whole is set against an extraordinary winter wonderland backdrop. The result is a modern masterpiece.

Rating of 4 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Deft, witty and original thriller which pits a pregnant, rural police chief against two city slickers; the violence, when it comes, is properly shocking, but it's the humanity that you will remember.

Highest rated reviews

97 out of 102 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
The Coens at the top of their game

David Gray from Clackmannanshire, Scotland, 24th February, 2004

Fargo represents The Coen Brothers at the very pinnacle of their creatrive genius. Combining an interesting plot with black comedy and characters you cannot help but engage with, Fargo is a film that you will remember for a LONG time.

The story is supposedly 'base on actual events' tht took place in 1988, but it is really nothing more than your typical kidnap gone wrong. What makes is so much better than any other film like this, is the way the Coens inject their own brand of humour throughout as well as giving the story a couple of unique twists.

William H Macy is simply brilliant as the car salesman put under pressure to recoup the money he has stolen from his work, and Steve Buscemi steals the whole film as part of the hapless duo who agree to kidnap his wife for ransom.
Frances Mcdormand does a great job as the sheriff of the small town of Fargo, but her relationship with her husband is not what you would call typical...

If you haven't seen Fargo yet, you absolutely must rent this now. If you have, then you already know why this film is definitely one to catch again.

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