FARGO

Cole's Rating: ★★★

Jesse's Rating: ★★★ ½

Director: Joel Cohen
Year: 1996
Cast: Frances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
MPAA Rating: R

        If I could give you any advice before going into this film, it would be this: don’t listen to what it says on the front cover of the DVD. It’s falsely advertised, and it doesn’t do the movie anything except raise its expectations. It reads: “A thriller by Joel and Ethan Coen”. I beg to differ. Fargo is nothing more than a story about crime, though it's a good one at that (it won Best Screenplay in 1996's Academy Awards). Whatever you could ask out of a story—whether it be laughs, scares, violence, originality, intensity, or eccentricity—Fargo delivers the goods. You can thank many things for this, but something to really marvel at here are the performances. 

        The movie opens up with William H. Macy who makes a deal with two low-life (I’m talking really low-life) criminals; he gives them a car, and $40,000, and they kidnap his wife. He knows that his wife’s husband is well off, so he figures that her dad will cooperate, give the “kidnappers” the ransom, and he’ll take a cut of the cash for himself. What he doesn’t account for, since he’s not experienced at all in the world of crime, is Frances McDormand (in an outrageous performance that stole an Oscar) as the police officer, the criminals’ violent nature, and the stubbornness of people in general. 

        The actors cast all look the part, and are an absolute hoot. Branching away from what he did in Reservoir Dogs, Steve Buscemi gives a more comically aggressive performance. In fact, he’s my favorite character in this entire film, and every second of screen time that he shares, he owns. He makes the best out of every situation, and it’s all the more hilarious to see his apprehensiveness meet his partner’s brutal nature that completely disregards humanity. What makes Frances McDormand’s performance all that better was the way she articulated the hysterical dialogue that fueled the film’s comical side, thanks to the droll scrutiny that The Coen Brothers made on life in Minnesota. The same goes for the graphic violence that just points out the obvious sense of humor that Joel & Ethan Coen have and use in this film. 

        A month, two months, a year, two years, and even longer down the line, Fargo is a movie I’m going to be revisiting. Though it does leave me with a feeling of un-fulfillment because of the perfect double-knots that the story was tied up with and the numerous amount of potential scenes that the filmmakers decided to cut away from instead of flesh out, I still consider Fargo a whole lot of nicely edited fun to be had time and time again.

-Written by Cole Pollyea

Jesse's Thoughts: Fargo is a terrific film by the Coen brothers. It has quirky characters with funny accents, graphic violence that's almost comedic, a great sense of time and place (Minnesota in the winter time, great setting), nice little twists and turns that aren't complicated, and most of all, masterful storytelling. This exercise is pretty much perfect. It's almost too perfect, and that's the main reason why I couldn't give it 4 stars. It's too well structured and probably could've taken another risk here and there. However, when you view it, look for two of the best performances of the 90's. Frances McDormand and William H. Macy steal every scene they are in. And when they are in a couple of scenes together, we're talking acting heavyweights in a steel cage match. Fargo is a must see if you like movies about outrageous, botched kidnappings. It's that rare entity that came out early in the year and still managed to garner some top Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture).