10 Most Cringe-Worthy Scenes In Amazing Movies

Fargo is without question one of the Coen brothers' finest movies, but more than 25 years after its release, audiences are still baffled by the toe-curlingly awkward scene in which police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) goes for dinner with her high school classmate Mike Yanagita (Steve Park).

Mike makes it abundantly clear he has romantic designs on the very pregnant Marge, and though she politely brushes off his rickety advances, things take a horrifyingly tough-to-watch turn when Mike reveals that his wife recently died before breaking down in tears.

As a shocked Marge tries to comfort him, he confesses that he's lonely and regrets attempting to initiate anything with her.

Per the painfully believable writing and performances, it's an agonising divergence from the main plot, though at least has an amusing payoff later on when Marge learns that Mike was lying - he was never married, and the woman he claims he married is still very much alive.

While many pawn the scene off as "unnecessary," it's ultimately Mike's duplicity which prompts Marge to consider the possibility that Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) isn't being truthful, as allows her to eventually solve the central case.

On its own terms, though, that restaurant scene remains almost five minutes of pure, undiluted cringe, and the film would be worse off without it.