Monday, November 29, 2010

Fargo

Joel and Ethan Coen are known for the dark humor in their movies. Some notable examples include The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona and Fargo.

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: *****

2 comments:

  1. 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.

    Ah the ignorance of my youth...

    ReplyDelete
  2. 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.

    Nonetheless, lovely written review! (like always)

    ReplyDelete

Comments are appreciated. More so if they are appropriate.