Turkey Day

I'll be baking a squash casserole tonight. Looking forward to spending the day with family tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving from lolcats.

Fargo

Fargo is a dark comedy about an amateur kidnapping that takes a turn for the worse. Set in Minnesota during the winter of 1987, the story follows Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesman who hires two men to kidnap his wife. Similar to other Cohen brother films like The Big Lebowski, The Lady Killers, and Burn After Reading, the plot becomes fraught with slip ups that lead to total chaos, and in true Cohen fashion, a string of murders. Pregnant police woman Marge Gunderson takes the Lundergaard case and sets out to investigate the kidnapping as well as the slew of murders. Marge, played by Frances McDormand, is my favorite character in the film. She's entirely likeable because of her polite demeanor and quirkiness. She represents a real person that viewers can identify with. Even in the face of horrendous murder, she doesn't become overwhelmed. Even more fascinating is that in the midst of all of this, she can maintain her relationship with her husband Norm as well as her hearty appetite.


In the opening credits the film claims, "This is a true story. The events depicted in this film took place in Minnesota in 1987. At the request of the survivors, the names have been changed. Out of respect for the dead, the rest has been told exactly as it occurred." However, the Cohen brothers have clarified that the events in the movie are taken from a combination of different cases that took place over a period of time longer than one year and elsewhere from Minnesota. Still, this in no way detracts from the film; the jokes will keep you laughing while you hold steadily to the edge of your seat.