The Cranky Critic reviews
FARGO
Starring: William H. Macy, Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi and
Peter Stormare
Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Directed by: Joel Coen
"Suggested" Ticket Price: $7.50
In his best North Country accent, Cranky writes:
Yah. So. There's this car salesman? Up in Minnesota and he owes a lotta money. So. He owes a lot of money, ya know, so he hires two guys to kidnap his wife. So, like they can split the ransom money from her rich Father who really doesn't like him, okay? Yah. But then he thinks he doesn't need to do this but it's like, too late and Oh Geez people start getting killed.....
Sorry, my accent bites. It occurred to me, the day after I saw "Fargo," that I may have been laughing AT the characters in "Fargo" because of the accents, instead of (strictly) their reactions to the gruesome situations that unfold in the movie. But I know the Coen brother's work well -- enough to know that that probably wasn't the case. Indeed, the Coens are from Minnesota, so there's nothing stereotypical here that isn't absolutely natural to them.
Including a Japanese character with an accent just as thick as any Aryan in the cast.
I don't care who writes the review. There is no way you can characterize the work of Joel and Ethan Coen. If you liked their previous work. "The Hudsucker Proxy," "The Barton Fink," "Miller's Crossing" or "Raising Arizona," you'll love "Fargo." If you don't, you won't. Pretty simple, eh?
William H. Macy plays Jerry Lundegaard, a "dumb as rocks" car salesman with a squeaky-voiced wife, an accordion playing child, and a mountain of debt. His tight-fisted father-in-law (Harve Presnell) owns the dealership and is rolling in the greenbacks -- and dislikes Jerry intensely. Jerry hires two dimwits -- a "weird looking one" (Steve Buscemi) and a "not-so-weird looking one" (Peter Stormare) -- to do the deed for a 50/50 split. Weird guy likes hookers. Not so weird guy, who almost never talks, likes guns and axes and extreme acts of violence.
And a simple kidnaping turns into one not so simple murder. And then two. And three. And so on and so on and so on. The thing is, it really happened, and the Coens make pains to point out that the events have not been changed from the actual ones.
Which doesn't excuse them from creating some very funny, very dry dialog from some unusual characters. Including a police chief who, after examining one of the murder sites, begins to feel sick. No, it's not the gore spread all over the virgin white snow, it's something else. And I'm not going to give it away. It is one of the reasons to see Frances McDormand's bravura performance as Marge Gundersson. For every character in this North Country, every day is the same. EVERY DAY, even the days when the bodies are dropping like.... Geez, like bodies dropping... and the major decision of the day is whether to eat at Roy Rogers or Arby's.
For all the violence and gore, and there is enough of it to go around, you may find yourself laughing at the most inopportune of times. You won't believe that what you see will make you laugh, but it will.
Unless you live in the North Country, in which case you may find "Fargo" to be a gripping crime story. Let me know.
It costs $8 to see a first run movie here in New York City. If Cranky could set his own price for "Fargo," he would pay....
$7.50
The Cranky Critic (tm) and (c) 1996 Chuck Schwartz. All Rights Reserved.
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