Why is this film great?

Keep in mind there often is a fine line between "good" and "great", it usually comes down to how a viewer reacts to what she/he sees and hears.

I value this movie highly, it is one of my favorites and I re-watch it at least yearly. For me it is the juxtaposition of good, simple people (Marge and her family and friends plus Jerry's wife) and people who are basically rotten to the core (Jerry, the kidnappers, and to a lesser extent the FIL). They are on opposite poles of the spectrum of humanity. They would never interact were it not for the crimes. Then, when it is all over, good prevails over evil, something most audiences want to see.

In addition I like the quirky style, the exaggerated characters, it all adds to the viewing pleasure.

Is it "good" or is it "great"? Probably.

..*.. TxMike ..*..
Make a choice, to take a chance, to make a difference.

In my opinion, the film is magnificent. It is an original piece of art that has everything. It is funny, violent, beautifully shot, and very original while maintaining a film noir style. I have seen it multiple times and always find something new.

"great" is a term that implies subjectivity. In films, what is great to me may be terrible to you, and vice versa. I think a film is considered great if large portion of the population think it is. Example, I feel The Godfather, and Godfather II are the greatest films ever made. Some feel Citizen Cane is, some feel The Shawshank Redemption is, some feel The Dark Knight is, and some even feel Dumb and Dumber is. It's just A LOT more people think The Godfather movies are great than do Dumb and Dumber. I personally like Shawshank, but I don't love it, and I couldn't even sit through The Dark Knight. Not to say it's bad, for what ever reason, I just didn't like it. I love Fargo, and think it is one of the best films ever. What makes it great to me? It's well written and directed, the cinematography conveys a sense of real bleakness that fits the story perfectly, it's suspenseful, has good drama, it's well acted, the humor is brilliant, and the Cohen brothers tricked the entire country into thinking it was a true story. In fact, bits and pieces were taken from real events, but the story itself was a work of fiction. It may be great to someone else for entirely different reasons. For whatever reason, this film just struck a cord with me, and has become one of my all time favorites. It's fine if it's not great to you, but it is also fine if IS great to me. Too many people, and I am not saying you fall into this category, think just because they don't like something, that everyone who does is wrong. You just cannot judge film greatness in absolute terms.

It's a top movie on imdb. That don't make it universal, so don't sweat it.
I personally like it a lot and would probably be in my own top 100 (if I cared to have one), but I don't expect everyone else to love it. Just like the vast majority of imdb users who love The Empire Strikes Back shouldn't expect me to like that movie. Which I don't. Is it still a great film? Probably so. Just not for me.

Unfortunately, this is one of those films where the greatness depends largely on how much the viewer resonates with the themes, and their personal traits and tastes in film, etc. I've seen many thrillers, but none that made me laugh like this one (I'm a fan of dark and wacky comedies). It basically combines my favorite genres into one film, and successfully too. The resonant overall message ("there's more to life than a bit of money") and production design only adds to it. I am an artist, and the wintery atmosphere was a large part of what attracted me to the film in the first place. There were numerous shots that I found aesthetically appealing. I guess people who found it boring couldn't see past the superficial aspects, or didn't find anything funny.

I like it because it has memorable, exaggerated characters, good writing, and brilliant acting. That's what makes a good film great.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAIJ3Rh5Qxs

I Love it. We may watch it again tonight. The TV show is pretty good too.

This thread show how people is different and have different taste.
Fargo is by far one of the junkiest movies I ever watched. Along with the Boyhood.
And yea, I watched near 600 movies.

I didn't like the actors, characters, plot, ending, acting, mood, reactions......
Only good thing i find in this movie is nothing.