Fargo
The Coen Brothers and star Frances McDormand became household names with the release of this darkly comic film noir.
Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) is a car salesman in Minneapolis who has gotten himself into debt and is so desperate for money that he hires two thugs (Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare) to kidnap his own wife. Jerry will collect the ransom from her wealthy father (Harve Presnell), paying the thugs a small portion and keeping the rest to satisfy his debts. The scheme collapses when the thugs shoot a state trooper. This leads to an investigation by pregnant sheriff Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) who begins to see the cracks in Lundegard's scheme.