Theres no accounting for taste.Not if people really liked this.

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2003)

* Terrible * * Below Par * * * Not Bad * * * * Good * * * * * Brilliant
WARNING *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
Business man Jerry Lundegaard is in a dire financial situation.So much so that he is a desperate man willing to do anything to save him self.So what else can he do but concoct a scheme to replenish his withering bank balance.Hiring two hapless small time hoods,the slimy Carl(Steve Buscemi) and the silent,brooding Gaear(Peter Stormare) from Fargo,North Dakota.Jerry arranges that the two of them will kidnap his wife Jean(Kristin Rudrud) and hold her to ransom.The money will no doubt be paid by Jerry's wealthy and unsuspecting father in law.With the cash Jerry will be able to pull him self away from bankruptcy and use it to pay off the two inept crooks he has hired.But as is usually the case,things don't go to plan.Now with corpses littering the beautiful,cold landscape of Dakota and feisty sheriff Marge Gunderson on their tail.What chance do Jerry and his partners in crime have.
What else can I say about Fargo that hasn't been said already.Quite the opposite actually.uninspired,lethargic and emotionally distant, Fargo has to rate as one of the most over rated movies of all time.Okay maybe I'm being a little unfair.The Cohen's most greatly rewarded movie is not exactly awful.But it's hardly good either.Why this is held in such high esteem by critics and movie fans is beyond me.But as the old saying goes.'There's no accounting for taste'.If so how could Keanu Reeves(although he seems like a really nice guy) and Tom Cruise to this day be such big stars in Hollywood.Who knows?Who cares?
Anyway.I'm beginning to stray from the subject of 'Fargo'.A movie which wastes a good,strong cast who are normally seen in supporting rolls. Although the four main stars are by no means fantastic and become the personification of each of the four protagonists.Ethan and Joel Cohen's script doesn't truly do them the justice they deserve.Wether it's down to the the quirky humor(which can work at the best of time),the fact that I couldn't begin to care about the characters who for some reason you feel detached from or that not enough happened to truly keep me rivited to my seat.I'm not entirely sure.Chances are.It's all the above. Even the scene where a couple of innocent motorists are gunned down by Buscemi and Stormare,having witnessed them commiting a vile crime didn't chill me to the bone as it should have.
Although well directed and the very slight moment of amusement from Buscemi and Stormare as well as McDormand.This was and is something of a disappointment for me.Even with it's bloody(and may I say predictable, anti-climatic)denounment.It's a thriller that just didn't manage to set my pulse racing.A pity I suppose as there might have been potential for a decent movie here.Sadly the Cohen brothers just wasted what was a promising premise with an uninspiring waste of an hour and a half of movie celluloid.
Robs Rating: * *