"There's more to life than a little money."

Rating: 9/10 (19 May 2011)

A typical car shows up in a world of snow. That is how one of the best-written movies of the last 20 years opens. The movie that earned the first Oscar to Coen brothers and made F. McDormand into an international star. Besides, S. Buscemi and P. Stormare performances should not be forgotten either. Fargo is a story about pathetic man's pathetic plan to gain some money. It is set in Minnesota in the middle of the winter. Coen brothers are not afraid to play with genres so it is hard to tell if Fargo is a dark comedy, crime drama or something else.
The movie begins in a typical bar where from the dialog between pitiful Jerry Lundergaard (W. H. Macy) and two criminals (S. Buscemi and P. Stormare) we are given the context of the story. Jerry tells that he wants to get his wife kidnapped so that he could get some ransom money from his father-in-law (H. Presnell). The deal is set and the story sets off. As usual, in Coens movies, nothing goes according to the plan of characters and the story falls into absurdity. Firstly, kidnapping ends with a three cold-blooded murders and the start of murders investigation. This is there Marge Gunderson (F. McDormand) gets into a picture. She guesses everything right from the start and shines among other foolish characters ("I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Lou"). From this moment, the story splits into three parts – investigation by Marge, pathetic Jerry's attempts to fix everything and hilarious relations between criminals. These parts come to one only at the very end of the movie that is both funny and thoughtful at the same time.
One of the most significant things that made Fargo successful is the character of Jerry Lundergaard. Jerry probably is the most pathetic man in the whole movie. He is wrong in every possible way and it seems that he cares about nothing but himself (he even forgets how this kidnapping scheme will effect his son). Firstly, he works in his father-in-law's car dealership and is a lousy salesperson who sells cars by telling lies to customers and family life is no better – it seems that the true head of the family is his father-in-law. When he gets himself in some financial problems Jerry is so afraid of telling it to his father-in-law that he is prepared to steel money rather than ask for it. In addition, he even practices his speech before telling his father-in-law about the kidnapping. As the story goes further, criminals, Marge and father-in-law press Jerry more and more until he brakes down. However, there is one scene in the movie when we can see some humanity from Jerry. It is the scene there Carl Showalter (S. Buscemi) threatens to kill not only his wife but his son as well. Jerry impulsively tells to leave his son away from this and he seems to be very serious about it.
Another thing to mention is a hilarious screen couple of S. Buscemi and P. Stormare. They are total opposites of one another. Carl is an annoying "talky" type hothead who does nothing right while Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare) is a cold-blooded professional who prefers to act rather than speak. Carl seems to irritate Gaear in every possible way from blabbering about the silence of Gaear ("Two can play at that game, smart guy") to an inability to deal with unexpected difficulties ("I'll take care of this"). It is hard to imagine how these two characters became associates.
To sum up, Fargo is a well-written and well-acted story about very interesting and complex humans that makes you laugh and cry at the same time and in the end, we are left with a conclusion said by Marge – "There's more to life than a little money." These words perfectly sum up the entire movie themes and help to characterize characters by dividing them in to those who do and those who do not agree with Marge's words.
2011-05-19