IMDb #153 Review: Fargo (1996)

Source: Wikipedia

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a wife must be in want of a needlessly complex scheme to dispose of her which inevitably goes horribly wrong in the most entertaining of fashions.

The same principle applies in the snowbound Midwest in the late eighties. Far enough north that people care about hockey.

A shady car salesman hires two even shadier characters to kidnap his wife so he can pump his rich father-in-law for ransom money. But the old fart's wallet is tighter than his anal sphincter. And just like real life, everything goes to shit because of one traffic cop doing his job. For the last time.

Things spiral out of control. Negotiations break down like a leg in a wood chipper.

It's a strange, sordid, locally flavored tale. A world where the most unquestionably evil characters, the silent psychopath and the angry foul-mouthed chatterbox, can be the funniest. Where cars break down and televisions don't work, no matter how hard you smack 'em. Where greed and tempers and itchy trigger fingers cause a rash of easily avoidable deaths. Where singsong regional accepts slip into daily speech like musical word parasites.

On that note, the seven-months-pregnant lady cop is just the best person ever. She supports her husband's stamp-painting dream; takes time out of her case to visit a lonely-and-awkward-as-hell Asian guy from her past; and she braves the cold and snow to figure out what the deuce happened out on the open road. Moreover, it takes a miracle to catch up with the darkly hilarious killers, when the only lead is two mosquito-brained barfly sluts.

But the best character is the world, an absorbingly demented slice of reality. Nothing goes as planned, which feels painfully real. The dialogue sparkles, as if the directors constructed every idle word to not sound constructed. The story's so convincing, I believed it was actually on a true story. (It wasn't. Despite the title card insisting it was. Part of the world, I guess. Just roll with it, drink in the madness.)