AmateurMovieReviews.com

I spent several of my college years living in Minnesota, so when I heard that the Coen brothers made a film set in that state, I knew I had to see it. The movie is called Fargo (yes, the North Dakota reference is a bit misleading there), and is one that I never get tired of watching.

Fargo stars William H. Macy as Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesman who has been embezzling funds from the General Motors financing company by forging sales papers on cars that don't exist. But Lundegaard knows it's only a matter of time before he gets caught, so he has come up with a way to replace that money. He therefore devises a plan that sounds pretty straightforward at first glance: he hires two men to kidnap his wife Jean (played by Kristin Rudrud). Then, the kidnappers are to demand $80,000 in ransom, which his wife's rich father will pay. Jerry will take the money, pay off the kidnappers, pay back the money he stole, and then get his wife back.

Jerry meets up with the two prospective kidnappers in Fargo (thus the title) in order to finalize instructions and give them the car that they'll use for the crime. The kidnappers are Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), and though the viewer gets the feeling that these men have committed crimes, it's pretty clear that they're two-bit players and haven't done anything big before. The men settle on the terms of the deal, then Jerry goes away.

The next day, Jerry has a meeting with his father-in-law Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) to discuss a business deal that Jerry proposed. Wade says that his accountant thinks the deal is a good one, and they're probably going to give him the green light. Jerry immediately realizes that he might not need the kidnappers after all, so he tries to call them off, only he doesn't have any way of contacting them. That ends up not mattering in the end because Wade doesn't come through with as much money as Jerry thought he was going to get from the deal.

Meanwhile, Carl and Grimsrud go through with the kidnapping, only they botch everything up right from the start. First, they have a much harder time capturing Jean then they thought they would. Next, they get pulled over by a state trooper for not having proper license plates on the car, Carl tries to bribe the trooper into letting them go, and things quickly get out of hand from there.

From there, the rest of the film deals with the police investigation of the various crimes committed by Carl, Grimsrud, and Jerry. The lead investigator is a Brainerd officer named Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) who takes a very laid-back approach to the case, but who is nevertheless effective.

I have to admit that even though I love Fargo, I know this kind of movie is not for everyone. I've always thought that the Coen brothers produce some of the most divisive films around: people either love or hate their movies, with very few reactions coming between those two extremes. Fargo is no different.

The first time I watched it, I thought it was boring and insipid. I couldn't understand what all the hype was about, but figured there had to be something I was missing, so I watched it again. During the second viewing, the characters and their quirks started to grow on me. I started noticing little details and started to appreciate the humor in many of the scenes. This kept happening with each subsequent viewing until I came to regard Fargo as one of my all-time favorites.

The performances in this movie are also worth mentioning. McDormand won an Oscar for her role as Marge Gunderson, so you can bet she was fantastic. But I also thought William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi were terrific as well. Macy was so pathetic and blundering as Jerry and Buscemi was so funny as Carl that you'll remember these characters for a long, long time after seeing the movie.

Overall, Fargo is an excellent film that you should definitely take time to see. If you've seen it once and didn't particularly care for it, I urge you to give it another chance. You just might be glad you did!