Rating: 
Summary: One of the 90s best
Review: I finally saw this movie after hearing a lot of great things about it. I was expecting Fargo to disappoint like other over-hyped movies like the green mile and the talented mr. ripley, but this movie was really good. It was slightly odd, but that's to be expected from the Coen brothers. Performances from steve buschemi and william h. macy are unforgettable. Theyare able to hind into their charectors really well. This is for sure not your typical Hollywood movie, but I think that most people would like it.
Rating: 
Summary: well.......
Review: Fargo takes the usual "caper gone wrong" storyline and applies a new twist. Based on a supposed series of "true events" from 1987 (a tongue-in-cheek claim made by a screen caption), the film examines what can happen when the police and criminals are equally dim-witted. The product of the Coen brothers' fertile (and twisted) minds, Fargo represents one of their least ambitious screenplays to date. Even so, the finished product still bears several of their unmistakable trademarks, including atypical humor and an unmistakable visual flair. In many ways, Fargo is a departure for the Coens. Their previous films, especially Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, and The Hudsucker Proxy, were stylistic treats, filled with offbeat characters and amazing images. Fargo, on the other hand, is a more restrained picture. Perhaps because it is based on non-fictional events, the Coens decided to tone down their approach. Cinematographer (and long-time Coen collaborator) Roger Deakins relies primarily on traditional shots, and the characters are designed to be more "normal." Fargo opens, appropriately enough, in Fargo, North Dakota, with a meeting between Minnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and two local thugs, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare). Jerry wants this pair to kidnap his wife, then ransom her for $80,000. While Jerry doesn't have that kind of money (in fact, he's strapped for cash), his father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell), does. When the cash is paid out, Jerry is supposed to receive a 50% cut, as well as the safe return of his wife. That way, everyone except Wade comes out ahead. Unfortunately, with two such incompetent crooks, things are bound to go wrong, and Carl and Gaear are soon leaving a trail of dead bodies behind them. A local cop, Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), is given the task of investigating the murders, and it's only with an amazing assist from fate that she ends up on the right track. A current of absurd humor runs through Fargo. Even though the story is based on true events, it's hard to take certain aspects of this movie seriously. Like David Lynch, the Coens are fascinated with what lurks behind the white picket fences of middle America. In Fargo, everyone falls into one of two categories -- the motivated (who are greedy, duplicitous, or homicidal) or the simpleminded (everyone else). The problem with Fargo is that there aren't any substantial characters. Everyone, from the overwrought Jerry to the methodical Marge, is a pure caricature. None of these people are particularly interesting or sympathetic, and watching their exploits becomes a detached experience. By the end of the film, you're more interested in how the filmmakers choose to tie together loose ends than whether any particular individual lives or dies. In the past, the Coens have managed to create characters worth caring about; such is not the case here, and it greatly diminishes Fargo's effectiveness. Born and raised in Minnesota, the Coens know their home state, which accounts for their ability to reflect reality there (which is like unreality for most of the rest of the country). People say things like "You're darn tootin'", "aw, geez," and "what the heck". Knowing how strange the talk of Minnesotans will seem to the rest of the world, the Coens intentionally play it for deadpan comic effect. It's easy to admire what the Coens are trying to do in Fargo, but more difficult to actually like the film. The absence of viable characters limits any dramatic impact, making this more of a laid back, lightly entertaining experience than a fully immersive one.
Rating:
Summary: Uuf da! This is the best movie I've ever seen.
Review: I think I'd better buy it. Going back to the video store is getting kinda tedious! This is not a movie for those who have little tolerance for language or violence. Whether it's true or not is up for debate. I'd say not, because of the disclaimer at the end. The more I watch this movie, the more I marvel at it. It folds together so beautifully and the acting is impeccable. The cast is small but the action is wide. I love the soundtrack. I won't say anymore, because if you haven't seen it, ya don't want to hear it. At least I wouldn't. I'm really lucky, I didn't know it was supposed to be good when I first saw it so I was mesmerized without preconceptions. See it!
Rating:
Summary: PIGS! EVERYWHERE!
Review: on my 20th viewing of "fargo" something finally clicked. jerry's house is filled with ... pigs! i swear it's true! those sly coen brothers put a porcelain pig in practically every frame. sometimes 2 or 3 at once!! there's even one in the bathroom. why do i mention this? because (a) it points up the fact that only the audacious wit and humor of the coen brothers could imagine slipping such a thing right under our noses. and (b) in a movie this brilliant, you can make new discoveries (no matter how bizarre) at every turn.
Rating:
Summary: How many other crimes are as bumbling as this one..Many
Review: This movie is a true story according to the explanation at the beginning of the movie. The scary thing is that it is a horrible series of errors that results in the death of over 5 people (I can't remember how many). When you think of the brightness of some of the crooks you see out there (plus the poor schmucks that get in their way) you can see how this would happen. What I particularly liked to see is that the splash and dash of so many movies ignores the facts that sometimes some things go wrong. This movie portrayed this very realistically. What I really enjoyed about this movie was the "real life" portrayal of the characters. Their lives were not all glitzy or sugar coated. The police chief that caught the crooks is a woman in the later stages of pregnancy with a caring husband and not too bright policy officer helping her on the cases. She investigates the crimes in a straightforward manner and goes on with her life in the movie. What was really neat to hear was the Midwestern accent and the sparse conversation of the people. Yup and Nope were answers to 10 minutes of questioning. Kinda funny looking was an acceptable description of a person. It would be rough work for a police sketch artist. The bumbling crooks are notable in the fact that they just do not mesh and are really out of their element. One guy would like to be a tough guy and is all talk. The other is a mean son of a gun with very little words. First one of them tries to talk the man paying them for the job, out of it because it seems too mercenary for him to pay them to kidnap his wife to get money out of his father-in-law. Then they start killing people that potentially botch the process. This puts greater stakes in the kidnapping and winds up with them making some serious mistakes. The man that pays them to kidnap his wife is wonderfully played by William Macy. He has that everyman look that gives you no sense of the sheer stupidity and selfishness that motivates this man. He has apparently falsified some records on some car sales either to pay a massive debt or is planning on cashing in on some dirty deal. The motivation is never revealed. He goes on blissfully through his life with occassionally temper tantrums destroying other's lives. This is a must see movie and it especially a good one to see for those would be crooks that are not too bright. For those with children. There are a couple of spicy scenes the crooks have with dates and there is violence in shootings and beatings. Let's face it, it is a movie about some not so nice guys and people were really killed, you can't make that pretty.
Rating:
Summary: This one makes my top 10 list!
Review: Wow what a movie! Fargo is a strange movie but is extremely interesting. How it was done & just the dark humor in it was what amazed me the most about it. I loved all the actors! After seeing this movie, Steve Buscemi became 1 of my favorite actors! He's brialliant! I already thought he was cool but this movie just made him even cooler. I loved the creative performance of Francis McDormand as the pregnant police lady! She was brilliant & was just there! The part was hers. William H. Macy is great too. Everyone in this movie was great & the twisted plot made it so outstanding. The humor is very dark but somewhat understandable why it's funny. I can go on forever about this movie. It makes my top 10 list, easy.
Rating: 
Summary: Am I the only sane person watching movies
Review: I would just like to know if everyone was watching the same movie that I was, because Fargo was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, I'm talking up there with Titanic and Over the Top. I would rather watch a Jerry Lewis telethon straight through than ever watch this movie again. I only gave it one star because there isn't a lower rating.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite film of the 90's
Review: Of course the direction, production, acting and dialogue was great - but what makes this my favorite movie of the 1990's (and in some ways I think the most important) was its commentary on the dignity of the human person. It's appraisal of the values of life, sexuality, honesty, and relationships are beautifully (any at times graphically) illustrated in this fine piece of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, but too simple of a DVD
Review: Fargo is one of my all-time favorite films, so I was glad when they brought it to DVD. The new digital transfer looks great, and though Amazon and the MGM packaging says it is only a Dolby Digital 2.0 sound track, I found that my reciever picked up a full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track. Usually when they put the standard matrix-surround audio on a DVD, my reciever just says "Pro Logic." There is quite a bit of front spatialization, especially with gunshots and some dialogue channeled to the side speakers, and there is little rear sound that I noticed. The only thing that would have made this a really great disc would have been more extras than the trailer. The letterbox VHS tape has the production featurette, so I don't know why the DVD doesn't. That's the only reason I'm still hanging on to my VHS copy. I think it would have been great if Criterion would have put out a special edition, seeing as it won an Academy Award and it's one of the AFI's top 100 movies of all time. If there's someone I'd like to listen to on commentary, it would be the Coens. 5 stars for the movie itself, 3 stars for the disc. I sure hope MGM's new Spinal Tap DVD is better packed than this.
Rating:
Summary: THE HECK YA MEAN?
Review: 69th annual Acedemy Awards ceremony....."....and the Best Picture award goes to "The English Patient!" The heck ya mean? In the lonely year of 1996 a film rose above all the rest and it was not "The English Patient," it was "Fargo". A smart, funny, violent film about a kiddnapping gone bad. Written by those darn, clever Coen Bros., this film is a landmark in American Film history. It should have one Best Picture, but what do those Acedemy people know anyway ( Dances With Wolves better than Goodfellas! ) Anyway it's a very fascinating film, and it takes a great deal of humor, sick humor that is, but watch it and laugh at those "durn" Minnesotians. It's classic and should be owned by everyone.
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