"I'm not going to debate you Jerry. I'm not going to debate"

Rating: Null/10 (3 December 2001)

SPOILERS! This modern classic brought to us by the creative Coen brothers is great for the following reasons:
1.) The actors are brilliant, reveling in roles that are interesting to play. Particularly notable are Macy as the feckless Jerry Lundergard, McDormand as the affable, partly pixilated, Chief of Police and of course Buchemi in his element in a role of delicious degeneracy.
2.) Dialogue. Or perhaps it is better just to call it quirky conversation, because that's what it is really. You just have to keep smiling at the accents and nonchalant banter, intertwined with telling character development and smart irony. From the cavalier `Ja' interview between McDormand and the two young women who showed the inept criminals a good time, to the priceless parking lot attendant/authority discourse we are treated to a stream of palaver that is amusing and at the same time insightful. We are so entertained that we don't even find it strange that Buchemi's character uses phrases like force majeure.
3.) The bizarre circumstances that intersperse the story that are resolved through violence. From the slapstick-like kidnapping scene to the fortuitous highway massacre to the disgusting wood chipper finale, the violence that underlies the generally flat exterior of the characters, is seemingly incongruous. It is however, a reminder that even though the people in this world are somewhat stolid, tumult and depravity pervades beneath the persona. This is driven home in McDormand's expostulation to the surviving criminal near the end.
4.) Jerry Lundergard. There are numerous nuances to the film but the most interesting surround Macy. A cashier gives him an egregious simper in a diner, his inept dealings with his oppressive father-in-law lend him our sympathy and his reply to his son, `Just ask Stan Grossman, he'll tell ya!' makes us cringe. Two scenes with him are very piquant and tell us much about him: the true-coat scam, and the part where he enters his father-in-laws office to discuss a business deal and there is nowhere for him to sit. Simply brilliant!
A great movie.