Fargo
Academy Award × 2·National Film Registry
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!
What critics thought
Fargo landed as one of the Coens' most celebrated films, with McDormand's performance as the pregnant, unfailingly decent Marge Gunderson drawing almost universal admiration — though a handful of critics found the film's blend of deadpan realism, black comedy, and Midwestern absurdism more admirable than genuinely enjoyable. The sharpest debate was over whether the Coens' tonal mixture was a strength or a liability, with some finding it darkly exhilarating and others arguing it undercut what could have been a tighter, more satisfying noir.
“Her character—seven months pregnant, polite to a fault, smart yet slow—is only a breath away from caricature, yet McDormand unearths a surprising decency there, and in the process she pretty well rescues the film.”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
“McDormand's uproariously sly-spry performance connects with Roger Deakins' bleakly beautiful photography to create one of the Coens' most consistently successful outings, albeit one that plays it even closer to the vest than usual.”
Mike Clark·USA Today
“After some superb mannerist films, the Coens are back in the deadpan realist territory of Blood Simple, but without the cinematic elan.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“easy to admire what the Coens are trying to do in Fargo, but more difficult to actually like the film”
James Berardinelli·ReelThoughts
“Fargo could have been a nice little film noir if they hadn't compounded it with black comedy, absurdism, and folksy farce: Scandinavian–American midwesterners up, or down, to their hickish shenanigans. Some of this surprisingly, works, some of it ranges from the unpalatable to the indigestible”
John Simon·National Review
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorJoel Coen
StarringFrances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell
ComposerCarter Burwell
Fargo
Academy Award × 2·National Film Registry
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!
What critics thought
Fargo landed as one of the Coens' most celebrated films, with McDormand's performance as the pregnant, unfailingly decent Marge Gunderson drawing almost universal admiration — though a handful of critics found the film's blend of deadpan realism, black comedy, and Midwestern absurdism more admirable than genuinely enjoyable. The sharpest debate was over whether the Coens' tonal mixture was a strength or a liability, with some finding it darkly exhilarating and others arguing it undercut what could have been a tighter, more satisfying noir.
“Her character—seven months pregnant, polite to a fault, smart yet slow—is only a breath away from caricature, yet McDormand unearths a surprising decency there, and in the process she pretty well rescues the film.”
Anthony Lane·The New Yorker
“McDormand's uproariously sly-spry performance connects with Roger Deakins' bleakly beautiful photography to create one of the Coens' most consistently successful outings, albeit one that plays it even closer to the vest than usual.”
Mike Clark·USA Today
“After some superb mannerist films, the Coens are back in the deadpan realist territory of Blood Simple, but without the cinematic elan.”
Richard Corliss·Time
“easy to admire what the Coens are trying to do in Fargo, but more difficult to actually like the film”
James Berardinelli·ReelThoughts
“Fargo could have been a nice little film noir if they hadn't compounded it with black comedy, absurdism, and folksy farce: Scandinavian–American midwesterners up, or down, to their hickish shenanigans. Some of this surprisingly, works, some of it ranges from the unpalatable to the indigestible”
John Simon·National Review
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Cast & Crew
DirectorJoel Coen
StarringFrances McDormand, William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell
ComposerCarter Burwell