Bleak comedy

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2012)

On the strength of liking the rather coarse In Bruges I was recommended to see this one, one that had passed me by but trailed for me by the recommender as an even blacker comedy. Being a sucker for black comedies I complied, and found it ingenious and engrossing fiction, but with a streak of nastiness not in In Bruges. Brainerd definitely looked colder than Bruges!
Geeky husband (Macy) arranges for two hit men, one dumb the other kind of funny looking, to kidnap his wife so they can all share the ransom money to come from her rich father. Except it all goes wrong - especially for a lot of innocent passers by, which is something I always find difficult to extract humour from as I never know what or in particular who lies around the next corner myself. Some funny alleged Minnesota mannerisms and accents from the cast, the pregnant Sheriff Marge had some of the most whimsical lines and was a convincing eccentric, to this outsider anyway. Favourite bits: Her police outrage when she sees Macy Fleein' The Interview; the funny looking guy getting shot in the teeth and continually whinging about it; trying to guess exactly how Macy's wife met her end, how often Ya was uttered throughout and where's the money buried. Nice photography and the music was atmospheric and excellent too, although it sometimes put in mind 17th century France. I just wish the main characters and their many foibles had been fleshed out a little more, otoh it was all nicely packed into 90 minutes...maybe the rather pointless meeting of Marge with Mike could have been jettisoned?
Although redolent of Twin Peaks it's one of the best films from the '90's I've seen from my limited experience, episodic but good and enigmatic enough to bear repeated viewings.