Fargo is not a straight up thriller. Nor is it a straight up comedy. It is not a drama, a romance, an action flick, or a story of redemption. What makes it so difficult to gauge is that it does not slip easily into one film genre or another. Perhaps that is why I see more threads about Fargo devoted to why this movie rocks or why it sucks than to any other movie. Some people go into it expecting a comedy and are disappointed. Others go in expecting a riveting thriller and also exit displeased. Those who go into this film simply expecting a great movie, however, will leave having watched one of the greatest pieces of art offered in the 1990's.

I generally (but not always) agree with Roger Ebert's reviews and never more so than with his recap of the Coen Brothers' first true masterpiece, Fargo. He says that the movie covered a variety of genres before ultimately emerging as one of the greatest films he'd ever seen. I would have to agree. After being encouraged by a friend to see this movie, I saw it not knowing exactly what to expect. I laughed, I was tense, I sat on the edge of my seat, and I finally ended up rooted to my seat, stunned, as the closing credits rolled. I have not seen The English Patient, the Best Picture winner of 1996, but I doubt it came close to Fargo in cinematic greatness. Please correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me unlikely that any film of 1996 could have been more original and astounding than Fargo was.

The driving force behind this film is the script. It is at once funny and haunting, set up by a proclamation that the story is "based on true events" (not true). As these words appear at the start of the film, followed by the opening scene, you can already see that Fargo is not your run-of-the-mill flick; it is unique. The script is full of twists and turns; I will not spoil them here but suffice to say that a cop pulling over two attempted kidnappers turns a somewhat strange situation into absolute bedlam.

The "somewhat strange situation" is that Jerry Lundegard (William H. Macy in an Oscar nominated role) has paid to have his wife kidnapped by two lumbering criminals (Peter Stormare and Steve Buscemi in his best role to date) in order to garner a large ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. Of course, this ludicrous plan goes horribly awry, and the policeman scene mentioned earlier sets off a chain of events that leads to numerous killings. Eventually, the heroine, Police Chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand in an Oscar winning role), arrives on the scene to deduce what has happened.

Fargo never lets up for a second. It draws you in from the first scene and yanks you from side to side during its 98 minute running time. The dialogue is pitch perfect, as the Coen Brothers capture their native North Dakotan dialect to a tee, and the script flows seamlessly from one scene to the next. The movie is entertaining from the start but really hits its stride when Marge enters the scene. Three great actors- McDormand, Macy, and Buscemi- are all truly at the top of their form in this film.

Fargo is unlike any movie around. It is a comedy, but it is also a thriller. It is an action movie, but it is also a slow-paced, methodical movie. It rolls a bunch of genres into one. If you asked ten people to describe the movie in one word, you'd almost certainly get ten different responses. Actually, maybe that's not true. They may simply respond with the word "Fantastic".