The Coen brothers can always be guaranteed to deliver a quirky, diverting, off-key movie experience, and FARGO remains their most successful movie to date; a story of small-town life, dead cold temperatures, and a bloody crime wave. As with the majority – if not all – of their films, it's a densely-plotted, intelligently-scripted story, with a cold grasp on reality throughout but nevertheless some absurd situations to enjoy.

Things begin small and gradually build up to a blood-spattered climax, propelled by tons of originality and irregularity which propels this past most similar genre fare. Frances McDormand deservedly got an Oscar for her excellent performance as the pregnant cop, but William H. Macy is equally good as the nervous car salesman whose life spirals out of control. Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare are also brilliant as the two psychotic criminals who begin by kidnapping and end in  well I'll leave it for you to find out. In parts touching, warm, funny, frightening and shocking, FARGO is an example of the crime thriller at its best.