The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Ethan and Joel Coen, �Fargo�

Started December 20 � Finished December 21, 2002; 122 pages. Posted 31 December 2002

My buddy Fern has recently been stealing my lines for her own blog [now defucnct � Ed.]. What the hell is with that? It�s not like I go around writing reviews about doing massive amounts of chemically manufactured drugs!

Anyway, I just got my screenplay back in the mail from my dopey professor. Despite him praising the script up and down when he walked into the bookstore a week ago, I see nearly nothing but complaints written in his scathing red ink throughout the pages. The thing is, I agree with his complaints. While there don�t seem to be parts that lag, there are a few areas where things happen too quickly or too easily, and I was probably too tipsy when I wrote them in the first place.

But who cares? I�m not a screenwriter, and never had any intention to be one. I just took this class because it was one that was required in order for me to graduate. And despite his complaints, I have a big stinking A in his class for a script he only partially liked.

Never, EVER underestimate the power of �The Look.� It�s served me well. Now what the hell are YOU looking at?

So it was good to get my script back at the same time as I was reading this one. My script is much more Kevin Smith than the Coen brothers � lots of dialogue, text-heavy speeches, and a twisted but firmly romantic view of the world.

Don�t get me wrong, the Coen brothers do some great dialogue � one only need to look at Miller�s Crossing to see that � but Fargo is so sparse in regards to their characters talking that it rarely lasts more than one line on a small page. (One of the few exceptions comes from Steve Buscemi�s small speech about how his partner never talks, which makes the fact that he later gets shot in the jaw so much more twisted.)

The end result is phenomenal. Which makes it typical that my (now former) screenwriting instructor thinks all Coen brothers movies suck. So maybe the fact that he didn�t really like my script is that much is encouraging.


Rating: Worth Used Prices. Yah, you betcha.

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