Great dose of comedy and thriller!!

Rating: 10/10 (3 April 2006)

Great movie starring William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, and Steve Buscemi. When I first saw this movie a few years ago on VHS, I had noticed the information notice at the beginning stating that this was based on a true story from 1987. Now I know that this picture was NOT based on a true event from what I learned a while back. How misleading that is. Anyway, the movie is about a young man named Jerry Lundegaard (played by Macy) who works at an auto dealership and hires two guys to kidnap his wife so that he can pay off his debts (his wife was wealthy). Jerry Lundegaard is the kind of guy who was very stupid and not really honest in his ways. Anyone who is in tremendous debt that hires someone to have a relative or relatives of theirs kidnapped and/or killed in order to pay off his or her own debts is surely asking to get themselves landed in prison. Right after Jerry's wife is kidnapped, he comes back home to find that his wife is not there and "acts" like he's worried and concerned. His concerned feelings are very phony and all he wanted was to get greedy, just to pay off his debts. To me, Jerry was a selfish guy. I have absolutely NO RESPECT, WHATSOEVER for people who try to pay off their own debts by hiring someone to kidnap and/or kill their wealthy relatives. Then, when he gets in touch with the two men he "hired" to do this awful and sadistic deed some more, things get out of hand for him. The guys demand more money (they're just as greedy as Jerry), they had killed three people on the evening of the same day that they kidnapped the wife (a state trooper who was just doing his job by pulling them over for forgetting to put the temporary tags on this new car was shot, and two passers by who slowed down to witness what was going on were shot as well). Frances McDormand gave a wonderful performance as the very pregnant officer chief assigned to the case. This is a movie worth watching with lots of comical scenes (not the ones of violence, of course) and some dramatic ones as well. It is worth watching. I also like the Indian guy, Shep Proudfoot. He was seen a few times in the movie, but I thought he was funny as well. Check the scene where he gets back at the guy at his residence. That is something!!!!