THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY!

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2001)

Such frustration! Fargo being probably one of my favorite movies of all time, I just had to comment on a few misconceptions, misguided comments, etc.
1. This is NOT a true story. That text at the beginning of the film was a joke, part of the brilliant, subtle comedy of this film. So, no these people do not really exist. I mean REALLY! If this hilarious bungled crime actually happened, don't you think we would have heard about it?

2. Slow? This movie is not slow at all. It just isn't quick-cut, tons-of-action-a-minute like the vapid films that make $100 million at the box office in one week. And, at any rate, ever BEEN to Minnesota? Life is slow out there. Perhaps the pacing of the film was mimicking the way of life in the midwest?
3. The whole Mike Yanagita thing. Why couldn't the purpose of this whole side-story just simply be to add texture to the film, another layer to Marge's character? Unlike some people who took SUCH issue with it, I didn't mind it at all, and laughed my head off at the sight of an Asian man speaking with a hilarious MN accent. People might think that's "Non-PC" who cares. It's called COMEDY.
4. Oh, the accents. I dont want to hear it. I work with people from Minnesota, and YES they do talk like that.
5. Frances, the Acting Goddess, giving a FLAT performance? It's called S-U-B-T-L-E-T-Y. Please look it up. I know Hollywood doesnt much like subtlety, but once in a while it sneaks in there and the film is better for it.
6. Cant this be BOTH dramatic/tragic and comic at the same time? There is no rule that says a film has to fit neatly into one genre! This film IS tragic, it IS dramatic, and it IS very funny. So whats the problem?
Oh, yes... And I am one of the many who feel that The English Patient was an overblown, overrated, big, boring epic that did not deserve the Oscar over this little gem of a film that's destined to be a classic.