Comedy? What comedy?

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2002)

(Includes spoilers)
First off, I've heard this one billed as a dark comedy. Personally, I didn't find the film the least bit funny, except for a few humourous bits here and there. I did, however, find this film to be very well crafted, engrossing, and overall excellent in all respects. In short, I loved this film. But I wouldn't call it a comedy...
William H. Macy gives an outstanding performance as a car salesman whose plot to get some instant cash (which he desparately needs to get out of debt) goes terribly awry. Equally outstanding was Frances McDormand as the small-town police chief who puts all the pieces together.
One final comment: Many people have questioned the scene in which
Marge Gunderson (McDormand) has a drink with an old high-school classmate, saying the scene was pointless and unnecessary. I disagree. (Here's where the spoiler comes in.) Up until then, Marge was taking Jerry Lundegaard's (Macy) story at face value. Then she has a drink with Mike, who tells her about how he married someone they both knew from high school, who died of lukemia a year ago, and he is so lonely now... The next morning, Marge finds out that Mike's sob story was a load of bull, and she swallowed it hook-line-and-sinker. It is then that she starts to suspect that maybe Lundegaard's story wasn't completely on the up-and-up. It's the experience with Mike, and her subsequent discovery that she was easily fooled, that plants the seeds of doubt in her mind about Lundegaard.
(Just had to say that.)