Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Writers: Joel and Ethan Coen
Cast: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, William Stormare, Harve Presnell
Running time: 96 minutes

Hurray! The latest Coen brothers film is out. There are certain filmmakers whose work we eagerly await, and for me, the Coens are right at the top of this list. Only the expectation of a new Quentin Tarantino or Stanley Kubrik movie can have me in the same state.

And Fargo does not disappoint. It is a worthwhile addition to the Coen’s oeuvre. They have us laughing when we shouldn’t be, and they once again manage to tell a totally engrossing story.

It’s as if we’ve entered into a slightly skewed version of reality. I’m fairly sure that people don’t talk like the Minnesotans in the film—not in Minnesota, and not anywhere else. The mundane conversations, and blasé attitudes displayed in the face of the increasingly grotesque and violent events is what stands out. The dialogue is precious, and the country-bumpkin accents which accompany it sends the film to a higher level.

Supposedly, "Fargo" is based on a true story—however, it’s just the cagey Coen brothers having a bit of fun—of a staged kidnapping that goes horribly wrong. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) hires two criminals, Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi) and Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stormare), to kidnap his wife. He needs money, and expects his rich father-in-law, Wade Gustafson (Harve Presnell) to cough up, and pay to get his daughter back. Lundegaard, your typical slimy car salesman, plans to pay the kidnappers part of the ransom and keep the rest for himself. Anyone who has ever dealt with one of these guys can appreciate Lundegaard’s behavior. From the way he pushes the worthless rust-proofing onto his customers, to the way he continually evades answering the questions of the pregnant detective, Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), he personifies everything we detest in car salesmen.

The mundane constantly takes the focus, keeping the kidnapping and murders in the background. Whenever the characters talk to each other, our attention is continually called back to the cold weather, and snow-covered landscape, or the meals being eaten. The hugeness of the pregnant Chief Gunderson, and her seeming small-town naiveté, sidetrack us away from her efficient and dogged pursuit of the criminals. She calls to mind the old Andy Griffith show: Andy’s bumpkin accent fooled many a crook who thought that plundering Mayberry would be as simple as stealing a few cookies from Aunt Bee’s cookie jar.

The plot is tightly constructed, as are all of the Coen’s films. The characters are fully drawn, and interesting. Steve Buscemi is, as several witnesses in the film describe, "funny looking." I don’t remember him looking so strange in his earlier films, so I must give credit to the Fargo makeup team for this. His partner is chilling in his silentness. I came to hate the father-in-law, Wade, more than any other character, despite all the other despicable people in the film. He has to be in control of every situation he enters, and this trait is his fatal flaw. A top-notch film from top to bottom—no less than we have come to expect from the Coens.