Accidental Aesop: The film makes a good argument about the fact that no matter what your circumstances are, trying to solve them by criminal means is a stupid, stupid thing to do. Jerry's life wasn't the best, but his hare-brained scheme made him lose everything: his family, his career, and his freedom.
After Marge arrests Grimsrud and delivers her monologue with him in the backseat, we see him just staring at her. Are Marge's words going totally over his head, or is he actually pondering what she's saying?
Does Grimsrud kill Carl because he refused to pay for half the car, or because Carl threatened his friend Shep? Or because he realizes Carl is a loose cannon who's become more trouble than he's worth? Or maybe he was planning to kill Carl from the beginning to keep the money all for himself?
Wade's refusal to hand over the ransom money as instructed. Is he too greedy to turn over such an immense sum when it could (and did) end up being for nothing? Or is he more concerned with his daughter's safety, and thought the money was his only bargaining chip toward getting her back alive? Or is he incredibly suspicious of Jerry's motives?
Is Wade dismissive of Jerry because he (kind of accurately) sees the guy as a total loser who doesn't deserve Jean? Or does he actually want Jerry to fail at life out of pure spite and overprotectiveness toward his own daughter? Cutting your son-in-law out of a decent business deal that he helped find you seems pretty cold-hearted, finder's fee or not.
Anvilicious: There's more to life than money. Take pleasure from the simple things: good food, a warm bed, a job well done. This is shown with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, but as the film demonstrates, it's definitely a lesson to take to heart.
Though it won two well-earned Academy Awards, many people are still annoyed that The English Patient walked away with all the awards on Oscar night. Still, Fargo is now considered a classic on the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest list, and preserved in the National Film Registry. Meanwhile, The English Patient is better remembered for inspiring an episode of Seinfeld.
Some see William H. Macy's loss in the Best Supporting Actor category to Cuba Gooding Jr. for Jerry Maguire to be this. Others find it odd that Macy was put here at all, as he's essentially the central protagonist before Marge arrives and was deserving of at least a Best Actor nomination, if not a win.
To go along with this, Steve Buscemi failed to receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Leading man Macy being placed there no doubt hurt his chances.
Better on DVD: Although the film was very well-received when released theatrically, a lot of the greatness of the film can be better uncovered and appreciated with repeat viewings.
Gut Punch: Seeing Jean dead on the floor. Despite all the horrific things that had happened up to this point viewers probably assumed she would be heroically rescued. But instead she’s unceremoniously killed off camera.
It Was His Sled: Ask anyone who has even a passing knowledge of Fargo, and they'll tell you it's "that movie where Steve Buscemi gets shoved into a wood chipper."
Showalter is a crook and later murderer, but with his reactions to the insane stuff going on, it's clear he's just as out of his depth as Jerry.
Jerry is the one who masterminded his wife's kidnapping in order to secretely extort some money from Wade but he's so patethic, inept and unlucky that it's quite hard to not pity him a little.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Wade is an arrogant and condescending jerk. However he gave a Jerry a good job he probably doesn’t deserve and is willing to give him a handsome finder’s fee for a good deal he found. It’s hard to blame him for not wanting to just give Jerry an unsecured loan where he’s only going to get a little bit of interest. Yet he’s arguably more hated than the two sociopathic murderers and the pathetic weasel who starts the whole ill conceived plan.
Thanks to William Macy's brilliant acting, Jerry manages to come across as an incredible blend of pathetic, selfish, and weedy that the audience loves to tear down.
Gaear Grimsrud, a down-to-earth and chillingly realistic take on a brutal psychopath with no real empathy for his victims.
Carl Showalter for being a hilariously inept asshole of a crook played perfectly by Steve Buscemi.
Grimsrud shooting three people when he and Showalter are in danger of getting caught by the state trooper. And if those horrific yet pragmatic (at least the last two) killings didn't clue you in that this man's a monster, his pointless, petty murder of Jean should. There's also the hinted possibility that he tried to rape Jean, given the way he stares at her and his offhand remarks about her unexplained crying.
Showalter shooting Wade and the parking lot attendant. The former was at least a greedy idiot endangering both sides, but the latter was a total innocent.
Jerry crosses it in the eyes of many with his idiotic scam. Even if he hadn't planned or wanted anyone to get hurt, he still placed in wife in a traumatic, dangerous situation for money that he could've just asked for. And though he's almost certainly right that Wade never would've given it to him, he still didn't bother asking Jean, who has her father's support and might've been able to get him the cash legitimately.
Mike Yanagita, the chipper and pathetic old classmate with a not-so-endearing crush.
Mr. Mohra, the bartender who hilariously translates the angry outsider Carl's dialogue through a Minnesota Nice mouth, all in one impressive take.
The two hookers who sleep with Carl and Gaear and are later interviewed by Marge, for being somewhat ditzy yet friendly and providing a helpful lead to Marge. Not to mention giving Carl the immortal description of being "kinda funny lookin".
Signature Scene: The most memorable part of the movie is Grimsrud trying to dispose of Carl in the tree shredder.
Unfortunately for the Coens, the movie was filmed during one of the warmest winters in decades, and they had to truck snow around and place it for certain shots. This is most evident during the scene where Carl steals a license plate at the airport parking lot. If you look beyond the lot, you can clearly see there’s no snow in the background. Remember that the movie was filmed before snow could’ve been easily, or cheaply, put in the shot digitally, so it’s understandable.
When Carl shoots Wade dead on the ground you can clearly seen he's using a gun loaded with blanks. It's not aged well actually.
Squick: Showalter with a hole shot through his cheek, and the sight and especially gruesome sound of Showalter's leg being jammed into a woodchipper while the rest of his body lies shredded in a big red triangle spouting outward from said machine.
Wade has every right to not want to just give Jerry nearly a million unsecured dollars to build a parking lot. He’s even willing to give him a handsome finder’s fee even though he’s under zero legal obligation to do so.
Wade again. He majorly screws up the money handoff by insisting on going himself, but regardless of the kidnappers insisting on dealing with Jerry only or not, Jerry is obviously way too much of a wimp to be the frontman on something like this. Also, Wade wanting confirmation of his daughter still being alive is a good point (doubly so since while the audience knows that Jerry being the frontman is not an issue due to him hiring the kidnappers, he won't ask for proof-of-life like Wade will, thinking she's fine and it's part of the plan).
Norm Gunderson's consolation prize of having his painting picked for the 3-cent stamp used to cover the difference after postage hikes. In 2006, the USPS would adopt the Forever® stamp, obviating the need for these stopgap stamps.
In only a few years, the overwhelming accessibility of cell phones would make several of the movie's plot points moot — there would be no reason for Jerry to not give the crooks burner phones so he can get in touch just in case (though considering the way Jerry fouls things up as it is, he'd probably fail to do that, too). Another bit that wouldn’t work with cell phones: Jean having her house’s landline phone yanked out of her hands by the wire from underneath the door when she attempts to dial 911.
Jerry’s car sales fraud is committed by faxing General Motors false car registration numbers that were handwritten to be as unreadable as possible. Nowadays it’s unlikely a car dealership would rely much on handwritten records, having every sale recorded digitally.
In a wider context the whole premise of the film can feel quaint in retrospect. Fargo lampoons the "Minnesota Nice" reputation by portraying Minnesotans as folksy, mild-mannered, and unaccustomed to violence, then putting them in a story with kidnappers and serial killers. In the decades since, while the "Minnesota nice" stereotype has never fully gone away, Minnesota has been put in the national and global spotlight for events such as the murder of George Floyd in 2020, ICE raids and killings in 2025, and the massive protests emerging from both. With these in mind, it can feel outdated to portray Minnesotans as totally clueless about violence.
The Woobie: Jerry's wife is a woobie, kidnapped from her home, terrorized, sometimes disregarded by the people negotiating her ransom, then killed. And her poor son, who goes through all that fear while being ignored by everyone but Stan and gets no happy ending for anyone in his family. One can only imagine his reaction once he learns that his own father was responsible for hiring the criminals that kidnapped and killed his mother and grandfather.
Awesomeness Withdrawal: So far, there have been waits of well over a year between each season. Plus, it only looks to get worse in the future, with the show transitioning to a Louie model and only coming back when and if Noah Hawley has a story worth telling.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Mr. Wrench and Mr. Numbers, the quirky duo of henchmen. Many praise the actors's chemistry, their cool scenes, and their catchy theme music. It helps that in one way or another, they're some of the only characters to have a presence in the first three seasons.
Growing the Beard: While Season 1 was well-received, Season 2's reception has been even better. The characters were more fleshed-out and complex and the action was ramped up for the climax. Many of the complaints, like how season 1 was too similar to the Coens's movie, and that many subplots were too detached, were rectified by making season 2 a more original, more cohesive whole.
Harsher in Hindsight: Lou suggests to Molly in the Season 1 premiere that she get a job as a hostess at his cafe, as "people in this world are less inclined to shoot a hostess than, say, an officer of the law." Come the season 2 premiere, Rye Gerhardt's third victim and the third death of that season is none other than the hostess at the Waffle Hut. Lou investigated this crime, so he knew that getting shot was still a possibility.
Iron Woobie: Lou. In Season 2, he's obviously still troubled by his experiences in Vietnam, his wife's slowly dying, and the case is making him have some very unfortunate feelings about human nature. In Season 1, he can come off as something of a Sad Clown.
