Fargo
released 1996
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“Fargo” is an American, crime, sinister comedy, thriller produced, directed and written by the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, Kristin Rudrud, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Tony Denman, Gary Houston, Sally Wingert, Kurt Schweickhardt, Larissa Kokernot, Melissa Peterman, Steve Reevis, Warren Keith, Steve Edelman, Sharon Anderson, David S. Lomax, Jose Feliciano, Steve Park, James Gaulke, Frances McDormand and many others.

Fargo IMDb webpage

“Fargo” is basically about an imperfect crime perpetrated by sinister people who, for the most part are as stupid as they are bad. At the center of the circus is Oldsmobile car salesman in Minneapolis, Minnesota Jerry Lundegaard, played by William H. Macy. This is a story of murder, kidnapping, extortion, fraud among other crimes perpetrated by a bunch of boobs. Watching them is like watching the bumbling comics from days long past Laurel and Hardy but with a sinister edge. I found myself laughing and shaking my head in disapproval at the same time.

“Fargo” is a classic in the sinister comedy genre. Kind of like what if the comics Laurel and Hardy set out to commit kidnapping and extortion. The main character Jerry is a car salesman but not a very good one. He is also a manipulative liar but it is hard to believe anything he says. I wouldn´t trust him with my garbage. He is also a schemer but not a very good one. In terms of finding a criminal hustle he could have taken lessons from movies like “The Sting”, “The Italian Job” or even “The Thomas Crown Affair”. When you compare Jerry´s activities with the people in those movies you realize that Jerry is a small time hoodlum. With Jerry everything is amateur hour, as the expression goes, and that is what the audience laughs at.

I remember the scene where one character (I forgot their names) was telling his partner in crime not to tell anyone what was going on. When he dropped his partner in crime off at his house he watched from inside his car his partner in crime immediately tell his wife everything and that´s funny. And of course these criminals just continue with bad behavior to cover everything up. It really is a dumpster fire.

“Fargo” is a well written script with a very talented cast and that´s why it works so well. Think about it, It would take nothing less than a great story to keep us glued to our couches watching the dimmest criminals in the Hollywood pantheon. I can´t tell you how many times I shook my head partly in disbelief partly in disgust at the scheming stupidity of Jerry and his idiots.

Check out “Fargo” it´s dated but good. You´ll find yourself belching a laugh every so often.

John

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