Schmo Business

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2010)

In many ways I find this the most satisfying of all Coen Brothers movies I have seen (nine out of sixteen) and mostly the later ones. I enjoyed 'spotting' characters based on Clifford Odets, William Faulkner and Faulkner's long-time Hollywood mistress in Barton Fink but that was only one aspect of a movie that failed to grip me in total. In the case of Fargo it's difficult to identify any negative aspects in a movie that works on so many levels, black comedy, thriller, love story celebrating married love (think William Powell/Myrna Loy without the martinis and wise-cracks)tragedy. Although William H. Macey and Frances MacDormand have rightly been singled out for high praise - which their subsequent work has fully justified - the entire cast work brilliantly as an ensemble. One of the best films of the 90s.