What was so great about this?

Rating: Null/10 (8 February 2004)

If this was supposed to be a comedy, it was very dark. And quite violent. At first, the only thing funny about it was the exaggerated Scandinavian accent everyone seemed to have.
As time went on, the movie was funnier. Mostly because of Frances McDormand. As hard as I tried, as annoying as I found her character, I couldn't deny she gave a great comic performance. And toward the end, she showed she had dramatic ability too.
William H. Macy was pretty good, though sometimes I wondered what happened to his accent.
Some comic highlights for me (hope none of these are ***SPOILERS*** , but they might be):
-The scene where Marge and her partner first begin investigating a triple homicide
-A cop interviews a man clearing his driveway
-Two bimbos are interviewed in a bar
-Jerry's conversations with the man from GMAC who doesn't believe the cars on which a loan was made really exist
-Carl's partner ignores him even though Carl is covered with blood
Overall, though, I had real problems with this movie. If it had been a straight mystery or a straight comedy, it might have been better. But it was too inconsistent.