Every Coen Brothers Movie Ranked Worst To Best
4. Fargo (1996)
Fargo is a staggering achievement in every sense of the word. From the towering, Academy Award-winning performance of Frances McDormand, the brilliant antagonist courtesy of Steve Buscemi, the immaculate script and the beautiful but bleak cinematography, Fargo is the film where the Coen Brothers officially solidified themselves as two of the greatest filmmakers in modern cinema.
The dark comedy-drama follows Marge Gunderson (McDormand), a heavily pregnant police chief who finds herself dealing with a grisly murder which turns out to be much more than meets the eye. Buscemi, meanwhile, stars as Carl alongside Peter Stormare's Gaear, two criminals hired by a weak-willed salesman (William H. Macy) to kidnap his own wife for a hefty ransom.
Wonderfully deadpan and offering up the best ensemble performance the Brothers have ever directed, Fargo is often regarded as the pair's masterpiece, and it's easy to see why. There is no part of the film lacking in humour or wit, no actor holding anything back, and no plot thread left unresolved. It doesn't get much better than that.
Unless you're the Coen Brothers, that is.