I am going to say this right now...this is the last movie that had a truly great and original plot.

No film made after this has a really brilliant idea behind it's story like Fargo. The plot is pretty simple and goes something like this: A man wants money, so he hires two people to kidnap his wife so her rich husband can pay the ransom. That's pretty much it. Of course, nothing goes right and people end up getting killed, beat up, axed, whipped, and chopped into tiny bits.

Apart from the original concept, this film actually has mostly everything else working in it's favor. The writing it funny, directing is pretty laid-back, but gets the job done without looking dull or too stylistic, and the acting is mostly good. Only thing that bothers me is Frances MacDormand actually winning an Acadmey Award for her role. How that ever happened is truly a mystery, not to mention the first thing people should consider when contemplating the credibility of the Oscars.

I have absolutely no trouble saying that this is, without a doubt, the Coen's best film...by far. It's hard to imagine that the same people who made that film also made Miller's Crossing. Seriously, I'd rather watch grass grow in the winter than have to suffer though that poor dialogue-fest once more. They are on opposite ends of the entertainment and artistic quality spectrum's.