Fargo (1996)

When it comes to movies about murders and Minnesota-Nice, there is only one place to go. That is the Coen’s 1996 homicidal comedy, Fargo. The renowned fraternal directors hit one out of the park with Fargo, and it’s our recommendation for this installment of Weekend Buff.

The Coen Brothers take a bloody violent story, add some cringy awkwardness, biting comedy, and some nice manners, and throw it into the frozen tundra of the northern Midwest.

The story kicks off with Jerry Lundegaard, played by William H Macy, a man who oozes desperation from every sweaty pore. Jerry is the kind of guy who thinks embezzlement is a fine idea, but probably couldn’t operate a toaster without an instruction manual and moral panic. In one of cinema’s most painfully misguided plots, Jerry hires two goons to kidnap his own wife so he can squeeze a ransom out of his wealthy father-in-law. Because, sure, when one crime goes wrong, try upping the ante.

Lundegaard immediately makes another bad decision and hires the wrong people for the job. He doesn’t exactly have too many connections in the criminal underworld. He hires Gaear Grimsrud, played by Peter Stormare, who is deadpan and dimwitted, and Carl Showalter, played by Steve Buscemi, who’s adds inept and accident prone in addition to the dimwittedness he shares with Grimsrud. Together, they are the Laurel and Hardy of blood-soaked incompetence.

The only capable person in the film is the heroine, small town police chief Marge Gunderson, portrayed brilliantly by Frances McDormand. Chief Gunderson is calm, Minnesota-Nice, and very pregnant. Despite her less than typical law enforcement appearance, she is the best hope for solving this caper that has a mounting death toll.

McDormand’s performance is fantastic. Macy is so cringe that it’s hard to appreciate his acting, but it is exactly what is called for in the character. Buscemi and Stormare are also perfectly cast and give solid performances.

But don’t be fooled by the passive-aggressive niceties and comedic interludes; Fargo is as dark as it comes. Life has little value for this cast of moral misfits. Get in their way, and you may wind up in a woodchipper.

The scenery is as bleak as the plot. Vast expanses of frozen tundra, large snowdrifts, subzero temperatures, and a general sense of poverty and hopelessness set the scene.

Fargo was initially not a big hit in the box office as the nature of the film is hard to relay in a simple movie trailer. It’s complicated. But the critics loved it, and its popularity has grown. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. It won Best Original Screenplay and Frances McDormand won Best Actress. That’s a pretty good run for a movie that is not everyone’s cup of tea.

In the end, Fargo is a bleak, hilarious, deeply unsettling film that reminds you that people are awful, crime doesn’t pay, and people in the Midwest say, “Oh yeah, you betcha”, way too much.

Fargo runs a tight hour and a half. You can catch it for free on Amazon Prime or you catch it for a few bucks on other streaming services. This weekend, check out this dark murder masterpiece. You’ll love it, don’t cha know!

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