Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is having difficulty making ends meet, therefore he plots a staged kidnapping of his wife so he can split the ransom money with the kidnappers. Unfortunately for him, the kidnappers leave a bloody trail that captures the attention of pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand).
I honestly wonder what went through the Coen brothers' minds as they wrote the screenplay, mainly the wood chipper scene. Probably stuff that shouldn't be mentioned in mixed company. I love McDormand's accent. exaggerated, yes, but freakin' awesome. I love her performance too, probably one of the few great female roles. I also love Macy's performance. He definitely captured his character's meekness. Despite a few scenes I turned away from (*cough* wood chipper *cough*), Fargo completely catches your attention. And, although bleak and messed-up, the humor throughout the movie just works.
My Rating: *****
I'm almost ashamed to admit that it took me a few watches to fully get into this movie, and didn't fully appreciate its brilliance for five or six years.
ReplyDeleteAh the ignorance of my youth...
I hate, hate, hated this movie! They should've called it Brainerd. It had so many inconsistencies. Maybe I'm just mad because I'm from the area and when I tell people I was raised in ND they ALWAYS bring up this movie. Nobody sounds like that around here.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, lovely written review! (like always)