Frances McDormand won the Oscar for her lead performance and William H. Macy is perfect in his role as the bumbling protagonist. However, it is the two villains, played brilliantly by Steve Buscemi and Peter Storemare, who define this black comedy from the Coen brothers. Storemare is especially gruesome as the stone cold killer who can stare a hole through you. The only flaw of this movie is a side story about a former high school friend of McDormand's who weakly tries to romance her during her murder investigation. This part of the script could be removed and the movie would actually improve.