Review-Fargo

Rating: 6/10 (31 March 2017)

Review: 'Fargo' Another film by the Coen brothers, Fargo, starring William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare, is about a man in financial problems who devises to hire men to kidnap his wife so his wealthy father in law will pay for her release and in turn pay off his debt. Fargo is a crime, drama and a thriller. It was released in 1996. To be completely honest I didn't really like this film I had seen 'The Big Lebowski' before going into this film and just had such high hopes. I thought 'The Big Lebowski' was far superior. Although I thought that having Steve Buscemi as a major character was better than how he is in 'The Big Lebowski' with him only having a couple of lines, even still he was very funny in 'The Big Lebowski'. His performance as Carl is very good. He plays a very violent, crazy guy. His partner in crime Gaear played by Peter Stormare is also portrayed very well and its actually quite funny watching him grimace at the violence of Buscemi's character. One of the reasons I thought 'The Big Lebowski' is better is because I thought it was far funnier. In 'Fargo' I felt that too many times the comedy was centred on the characters accents. It was funny the first time but it got old quick. Especially for Frances McDormand's character I felt that most of the humour was just the accent. Apart from one scene I didn't really like her character. When she is interviewing one of the criminals and he drives off and she exclaims 'oh for Pete's sake, he's fleein' the interview' I thought that was her standout scene to be honest. I thought she over did the 'Yas' throughout the film. I especially found it hard to relate to her and sympathize with her. I felt the overuse of the accent again was the cause of that. I think the jokes with the accent went over my head because I've never been to Minnesota. One thing that really worked for me was the visuals. For me the setting is the reason for this. The snow really makes everything look great. The contrast between the dark clothes of the characters and the snow looked really good. I think the most iconic thing for me is the scene where the car drives past the statue of the lumberjack. This for some reason just really stuck out in my mind. Whenever I think of Fargo I think of that statue. In conclusion the story is decent, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare are excellent along with William H. Macy. Frances McDormand is a bit hit and miss as well as most of the humour in the film. In the end, I give it a 6/10. I found it very hard to like it especially in comparison with 'The Big Lebowski'.