Fargo (1996): Boy, them Minnesotans sure do talk funny, don't they? Buncha tree-loggin', ice-fishin', hockey-playin' Swedes you ask me. It would be an understatement to say that this movie gains a lot of mileage from its chief gag; at some level, this is really a one-note movie - boy, them Minnesotans sure do talk funny. Luckily there's a good little black comedy involving incompetent murderers/kidnappers here. But the one thing that will stick in your mind after seeing this isn't the infamous woodchipper scene; it's, "boy, them Minnesotans sure do talk funny." Overrated, certainly, but entertaining.
Grade: B+
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982): The absolute pinaccle of that much-maligned genre, the teen flick. In a word - AWESOME, DUDE! Sean Penn's Jeff Spicoli character spawned a generation of dumbass burnouts - Bill & Ted, the hopeless Pauly Shore, Beavis & Butthead even. And Phoebe Cates steals the picture with several infamous scenes revolving around sex - particularly the one with the carrot (and the one that immortalizes the Cars' "Moving In Stereo" - gawd, I will never hear that song again without thinking of that scene; if you've seen it, neither will you). Plus it quotes Cheap Trick and Van Halen, dude. And yes, Side Two of Led Zeppelin IV works every time.
Grade: A