Somewhat slyly advertised as being based on a true story, a car salesman by the name of "Jerry Lundegaard" (William H. Macy) hires two psychotic thugs named "Carl Showalter" (Steve Buscemi) and "Gaear Grimsrud" (Peter Stormare) to kidnap his wife "Jean Lundegaard" (Kristin Rudrud) so that his rich father-in-law "Wade Gustafson" (Harve Presnell) can pay the ransom which will then be split between Jerry and the two kidnappers. Unfortunately, rather than being kept as secret as possible, things take a severe turn for the worse when Carl and Gaear shoot and kill several innocent bystanders in the process. And things get even more out-of-hand when a police investigator by the name of "Marge Gunderson" (Frances McDormand) is assigned to the case. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I didn't think much of this film the first time I saw it but after further viewings I began to appreciate the dark humor a bit more. That being said, I have rated the film accordingly. Above average.