adonis98-743-186503 Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson. Fargo is for sure an original film as a whole but the problem is that it's not a good film as a whole and despite the solid perfomances there was nothing more to it that i was actually invested into and i even enjoyed as a whole. The film is also very slow paced and that makes things even worse for me but at least it's not as bad as some other movies for the Top 250 movies of all time so that's at least ok. (4/10)

betty dalton This is a true story. No kiddin. It really is. It seems so bizarre and comical, but it is truly based on real events, only the names of the characters are changed. Fargo is about a financially struggling loser played by William H. Macey. His car business is going downhill and he is desperate for extra money. This dude comes up with the idea to fake a kidnapping of his own wife and collect the ransom monye which will be paid by the extremely wealthy father of his wife. Things go sour of course. And how terribly bad things get is the brilliance of this true story. The reason you must be reading this review is because you probably dont know the Coen Brothers (very well). Any fan of their work will watch everything they make, because these 2 brothers are the pinacle of absolute genius in american independent cinema. I just count the months every year waiting to see the next creation of these brothers who are both director, producer and writer of all their movies. With "Fargo" they made one of their best works. It became one their most popular ones too, even a series was made after this story.For those who have never seen a Coen Brothers film before, a little warning: the humor in "Fargo" is very subtle. The Coen Brothers are magnificent in portraying their characters in a way that can be interpreted in different ways. You can look at it as a drama, but simultaneously you can also laugh about it. These brothers walk this tightrope between comedy and drama as a brilliant circus trapeze act. It makes for an unforgettable watching experience. But some people just dont understand these black comedies. The Coen Brothers style is NOT straight comedy. It is twisted and dark, but true to life and endearing simultaneously.Acting performances are always great in all of the Coen Brothers movies. Just like in Quentin Tarantino's movies, these twin brother directors truly love and appreciate their actors. Excellent casting choices!Huge praise for the beautiful soundtrack by Carter Burwell and for the beautifully shot desolate winter spaces of Dakota by oscar nominated photographer Roger Deakins.Fargo has become a Coen Brother's favorite of mine. Not their best work, so if you like this one, please check out their earliest work and the classic "No Country for Old Men", those are all ultimate masterpieces of modern american cinema!

chaswe-28402 Having seen this film some years ago I used to think it was really good. I watched it again last night, and decided it was actually pretty messy and nasty. Nearly all the characters, with Marge and the bit parts excepted, are unusually unpleasant. The Coens seem not to have enjoyed growing up in Scandinavian America, and have taken revenge on the place. Is it populated almost entirely by dolts, scammers, thugs, bullies, hookers, wimps and so on ? According to the extra feature "Minnesota Nice" there is an underlying feeling that "polite cultures are the most repressed and therefore the most violent". The Coens put it that way, in any case. In other respects the whole set-up reminded me a little of Blue Velvet country, ten years earlier.The film kicks off with three unplanned killings of innocent people, and then adds to these with three or four more. It would spoil things were I to list them. Marge, who is a pregnant policewoman, then forces a solution to what is going on and arrests the surviving guilty party. She tells him it's a beautiful day. It isn't in fact, since it's foggy and snowy. She ends up in bed with her signally lumpy husband, and tells him he's wonderful. The two of them spend a lot of time stuffing their mouths. There is a curious incident with a mentally disturbed Japanese man. I don't quite know what that's about. The net result is faintly comic, in an ugly sort of way, if you think all the deaths are funny. $1 million, less $80,000, is buried and lost in the snow.

hewilson2-72-796868 I'm certain that the main reason for my lowest of low ratings is that I was lead to believe I would be viewing a comedy. Like most films, I heard about Fargo word of mouth and everything I heard was about how funny it was. Laughs they all said. Hilarious I was told...back in '96. So when it came out on pay per view in late '96 or early '97, I attempted to watch it. More than half way through, I had not so much as chuckled. As a matter of fact, I was shocked and depressed. So I turned it off. Never saw the end. Then I had some conversations with my friends/coworkers/colleagues who had raved about it. "Oh you just didn't give it a chance" they all said. "Watch it all the way though" I was told. So here I am 20 + years later with a new open mind, ready to be amused. Prepared for chuckles and belly laughs. And this time, I watched all the way through. What did I discover? Nothing. Still depressing. Still pointless. Still completely, totally, entirely humorless. Not clever. Not interesting. Just depressing. Makes me wonder about the psychology of all those folks who raved about all the humor in this film. Makes me wonder how I would have felt about it had it not been presented as a comedy. As it is, just meh.