I was smitten by several of the brothers' other work (Big Limbouski, Miller's Crossing,O Brother, Where Art Thou? Raising Arizona), and was primed to enjoy this much hyped film. The idea of the film is a simple joke: what if you set a grim tail of desperation in the banal setting of Minnesota. Characters would be wonderful because of their grit and pedestrian nature in extraordinary circumstances.

Done well, such characterizations would do away with a need for a compelling plot. Sadly, despite fine acting, the characters aren't compelling, leaving the plot to plod on to its inevitable conclusion -boredom. Joel Coen has left me wondering why he bothered to make this film, with all the charm of a drunk-driving accident.

Fargo's only saving grace is that it is ever so slightly more tolerable than Intolerable Cruelty.