Average Rating: 8.4/10
Reviews Counted: 67
Fresh: 63 | Rotten: 4
Violent, quirky, and darkly funny, Fargo delivers an original crime story and a wonderful performance by McDormand.
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 21
Fresh: 18 | Rotten: 3
Violent, quirky, and darkly funny, Fargo delivers an original crime story and a wonderful performance by McDormand.
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Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 193,104
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Filmmaking siblings Joel Coen and Ethan Coen both embraced and poked satirical fun at their Minnesotan roots with this comedy-drama-thriller that earned seven Oscar nominations, winning for Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay. Frances McDormand stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant police chief whose affable, folksy demeanor masks a whip-smart mind. When a pair of motorists are found slain not far from the corpse of a state trooper, Marge begins piecing together a case involving a pair of
Mar 8, 1996 Wide
Jun 24, 1997
MGM
All Critics (67) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (69) | Rotten (4) | DVD (41)
Fargo is a strikingly mature, uniqueentertainment that plays on many levels ... all satisfying.
Gunderson (Frances McDormand) [is] the most endearing, hilarious and wholly feminine heroine since Thelma or Louise.
Chief Gunderson was created by the Coens specifically for Frances McDormand ... and they've been rewarded by a brilliant and unblinking comic performance.
Like every other critic I'm aware of, I loved this movie.
With Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen return to the glory days of 1987 and Raising Arizona.
To watch it is to experience steadily mounting delight, as you realize the filmmakers have taken enormous risks, gotten away with them and made a movie that is completely original, and as familiar as an old shoe.
Dark, gritty, and brilliant. Not for kids.
"Fargo" is the kind of black comedy you can rediscover over and over again. The laughs and shocks never fade.
Quite simply, Fargo is the best movie the Coen Brothers have ever made. And that's saying a lot.
The most complete film the Coens have ever made, it's nothing short of a movie for the ages.
The Coen Brothers have always loved to go far, a tactic they don't forgo in Fargo. [Blu-ray]
Fargo is the Coens' most ice-cold satire, but also features its warmest character.
Do you have to be a Minnesotan to really get Fargo?
The best movie heroine in years.
This may be the warmest movie the Coen brothers have ever made.
[Marge is] a good cop because everything abnormal stands out like a stain against her white-on-white sanity.... [H]er incomprehension [of criminality] is not only her strength as a detective, it justifies the deadpan style of the movie.
Fargo's plot and script are top-notch, but what really stands out in this film are the characters -- and the actors who play them.
Much less vain, flamboyant, and showy than their other pictures, Fargo bears the thematic influence of Samuel Beckett and the stylish coolness of Finland's Aki Kaurismaki, but the violence is all Coens.
One of the more entertaining films of the 1990s.
The Coens remain effortlessly ahead of the American field.
This is a near brilliant/near masterpiece (if not an outright masterpiece).
It's good storytelling ... hilarious, disturbing, tragic, and hopeful. But it's not for the squeamish.
An odd, intriguing, and entertaining film.
The brothers have returned to their roots, both visually and literally. Their new film is reminiscent of their debut movie, Blood Simple, and its wry look at murder.
Fargo is absolutely incredible. Every scene is captured with so many layers and layers of emotion and wit. A must watch.
April 5, 2011Super Reviewer
The most absurd and crazy stories are still written by life itself. This is based on a real crime happening in Minnesota in the 1980s. Of course the Coen brothers find the right tone to tell this tale of greed, stupidity and violence. Sometimes you're not sure whether you're supposed to laugh or shake your head and end
June 14, 2006Super Reviewer
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