This is a brilliant piece of work, made by the Coen Brothers, who are known for turning out good (if bizarre and sometimes shocking) work. This is a thriller with shockingly graphic violence, and humor as black as coal. It is made even more shocking by the fact that the movie was inspired by true events. A sleazy but mild-mannered car salesman who hires a couple of criminals to kidnap his wife with the intention of keeping most of the ransom provided by his father-in-law. Things turn bad when one of the kidnappers shoots a State Trooper and two witnesses, leading seven-months-pregnant Brainerd, Minnesota Chief of Police Marge Gunderson to investigate the killings.

The cast is stellar. William H. Macy, as the hapless car salesman, gives arguably his best performance. Frances McDormand won an Oscar for her portrayal of Marge. Steve Buscemi, in one of his best roles from his mid-nineties crime movies, plays loud-mouthed, inept, "funny-looking" Carl Showalter. Peter Stormare, as the silent, stone-faced psycho-partner of Buscemi, is positively chilling. Unlike every Coen bros. movie since "Blood Simple," Fargo takes a more serious, less bent look at things. And the hilarious regional dialect, which can be obnoxious at times, adds humor and culture to the isolation of the setting. One thing that makes little sense is the title. The first scene takes place in a bar in Fargo, ND, but the meat of the film is in Brainerd and Minneapolis. Rating 10/10