Ya Darn Tootin'

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2011)

Firstly, I'd like to weigh in with my thoughts on the Mike Yanagita scene. This is possibly my favourite scene in the whole movie (amongst several classic unforgettable scenes). It's funny enough when you first watch it, even though you find yourself feeling guilty about laughing. What IS funny about someone's wife dying from leukaemia exactly? The more you try and suppress your laughter, the harder you start to guffaw. I believe the Coen brothers wanted people to laugh guiltily at this poor chap breaking down.
It's even funnier when you realise later that Mike never in fact married the woman, she never died from leukaemia and the whole thing was some sort of creepy fantasy of his.
I don't really believe there is a deeper meaning behind this scene in terms of plot development or changing Marge's motivation, though I do accept it gets her scratching her head at how nice people can barefaced lie (or deceive themselves). I just think its a wacky piece of black humour, a set-piece slightly on a tangent but very very funny and therefore worthy of inclusion in the film. Does EVERYTHING in a movie have to be directly part of a linear plot line? Is there no room for random vignettes simply included to add to the atmosphere and entertainment value?
The quirkiness of the Yanagita scene leads me onto my next observation about "Fargo": Marge is the natural successor to my hero Lt Columbo (who I have reviewed several times on IMDb). When she first checks out the car wreck, in between barfing and drinking her coffee, Marge's style of deductive police work is pure Columbo. When she interrogates people, it's with the same "dumb friendly" schtick Columbo uses. Not that she's a one-dimensional copy of the Columbo character, far from it, just cut from the same cloth. Works for me!
Everyone in this film, every piece of dialogue, every snowy scene, every "ya" just works somehow. It would be much easier to analyse what's wrong with a movie than what's right, but in this case I find very little to criticise. The acting all round is stupendous. I actually rewatched "Reservoir Dogs" after this, so impressed with Steve Buscemi's acting that I wanted to see more of him. For the first time ever, I felt disappointed with "Reservoir Dogs", a film I normally love. Watching it back to back with "Fargo" revealed the superiority of the Coen brothers' movie to Tarantino's (still a great film don't get me wrong).
There are so many little touches that make this movie entertaining: the appalling muzak at the cafeteria; Carl's hilariously ill-at-ease facial expressions under the glare of the traffic cop's torchlight; Jerry "co-operating" with Marge, before getting carted out of his own house in his underwear, screaming like a baby; and all the peripheral but memorable, eccentric characters like the waitress at the diner, the escort girl at the Feliciano show with Carl and the "pathetic piece of (whatever)" parking attendant etc. Shep also plays his part excellently.
Just absolutely chock-full of great scenes, I actually watched Fargo three times yesterday and didn't get sick of it once. I feel like watching it again! And this is not because of hype or a feeling that I'm "supposed" to like this movie. I just do! I really feel it is something unique, not the most upfront, dramatic movie of all time, not a movie with a great profound message, just a lovable slice-of-Minnesotan life and some very entertaining winners and losers going about their business.