Review of Fargo (1952) by Matheus C — 29 Apr 2015

I feel like I'm going to be tried for blasphemy or something when I post this review. I know Fargo is a well-loved and respected film, but I'm starting to think I prefer the Coens' pure comedies instead of their attempts at blending drama with comedy. There's also a chance I was expecting something remarkable, so this was bound to disappoint. The story is actually surprisingly simple, in fact it's extremely reminiscent on Blood Simple. A husband hires men to hold his wife hostage in order to get a cut of the ransom money. Of course, as one would expect from a Coen film, crimes never go that smoothly. In fact Fargo is just a series of mistakes and clues for the cops to follow. Luckily, the cop becomes the protagonist of the film about halfway through. The fun of Fargo is entirely in the contrast of the serious events that are occurring, and the small-town friendly nature of people who live in Minnesota. William H. Macy is particularly fantastic as he perfectly embodies that classic Midwestern trait of bottling up negative emotions and putting on a friendly face even when your world is crashing down around you. I also liked Frances McDormand's character of Marge because she defies every expectation you might have about her from her appearance. She is friendly and sweet, but also a great investigator.

I think the biggest issue I had with this film was connecting with the characters and I feel that stems from the lack of depth given to most of them. It seems almost every person in this film is simply one-note. Jerry is frustrated and repressed, Marge is deceptively astute, Carl is horny and agitated, Gaear is evil, Wade is grumpy, etc. There is no character who has an arc either, no one grows or really changes because of these events, things just kind of happen. The problem that results from my lack of investment in the characters is that I started to feel like there was a lot of stuff they could have cut. It sounds horrible to say about a film that so many people adore, but in the long run Fargo felt like something they could have cut down to be a single episode of a police procedural on TV. I guess I'm just a slave to more traditional Hollywood film-making, because I think I would have had greater enjoyment if they focused in the entire film on just one side of the story, instead of bouncing around between 3 or 4. Naturally all of this complaining makes it sound like I hated the movie, which is not true. In fact I found it enjoyable, and had a few chuckles here and there. Expectations obviously played into my reaction to Fargo, because if I only planned on seeing a fun little crime drama I would have been satisfied, but since several people in my life celebrate it as one of their favorite films of all time it just couldn't live up. Still I recognize the aspects that people enjoy and appreciate the quality of the film-making in Fargo.