Fargo (1996) - Parents Guide Movie Rating

MPA: R BBFC: 15 Maturity Rating 16+

MPAA Reason: Rated R for strong violence, language and sexuality.

BBFC Reason: strong violence, bloody images, language, sex FARGO is a US crime drama in which a husband with money troubles tries desperately to reverse the botched plan to kidnap his own wife for ransom.

BBFC Ratings info: violence: There are bloody shootings, including sight of a man being shot in the head at close range. A man is dragged from his bed while engaging in sex and strangled. There is a scene in which dead bodies are put into a wood chipper in order to be disposed of. A man kicks a naked woman in the buttocks as she flees a motel room. injury detail: There are frequent bloody images as a result of violence. This includes blood sprays and sight of gore when bodies are disposed of in a wood chipper. Bloody welts appear on a man's back after he is repeatedly struck with a belt. A frozen, decomposing body features in one scene as cops inspect a crime scene. language: There is strong language ('motherf**ker', 'f**k'), accompanied by milder terms ('cock', 'son of a bitch', 'shit', 'asshole', 'Jesus', 'Christ', 'God', 'hell', 'damn' and 'jerk'). sex: There are scenes of strong sex, including a sequence of group sex. There is some brief buttock and genital nudity. There are also scenes of threat when two men invade a woman's home and hold her hostage.

Sex & Nudity

moderate

A woman's bare bottom is seen as she runs down a hallway naked. Very brief. A sex scene is shown for about 6 seconds, in which both characters are fully nude, but the camera is mostly on the mans backside. A few non-graphic and very brief sexual remarks and said. Two men and two women have sex in the same motel room. The scene only lasts about 10 seconds. A fully nude man is thrown over the couch (genitalia and buttocks are shown.)

Violence & Gore

severe

Though much of the violence occurs offscreen, it is still often shocking and sudden. Most of the victims are innocent. One man approaches another with an axe and takes a swing, though the impact is not onscreen, rather implied. Later the same man is shown clearly putting the others body through a woodchipper. Quite graphic. Almost all of the violence is through shootings some of them are even oddly funny due do the unrealistic amounts of blood that come out. The violence isn't intense and at times is very funny. A police officer is shot in the top of the head and buckets of blood spew from the wound, with some of it getting on the face of another man. A couple are killed after witnessing the cop shooting. After crashing their car, the man is shot in the back while trying to run away (no blood is shown). The woman is then shot offscreen while pinned in the car. While having sex, a man is attacked violently. He is kicked on the floor, and then whipped and strangled with a belt. During this attack, a man is slammed against a wall to the point of unconsciousness, and a woman is kicked in the back. A man is shot in the back of the leg while running from the cops, with a little blood on the wound. A man is shot in the chest, with the feathers of his down coat flying everywhere; the second man then shoots his attacker in the cheek. The bullet grazes the first man, we don't see the impact, but when he covers the wound with his hand, his hand becomes covered in blood. The first then shoots the second man multiple times both on and offscreen. As the first man drives away, he shoots a gate attendant offscreen, though the aftermath of it is briefly shown with a little blood on the wall. The wounded man's cheek and hands are covered in blood throughout the rest of the movie. A woman who has been tied up in a chair is killed (offscreen); blood splatter is shown on a wall. A man is killed with an axe offscreen. Later, a police officer finds the killer feeding the man's remains into a wood chipper, with blood and some flesh covering the snow on the left side of the screen. The person who killed the man can be briefly seen pushing the man's dismembered leg deeper into the wood chipper. This is very bloody.

Profanity

severe

Almost all uses of 'f*ck' are said by Steve Buscemi's character. 73 uses of "fuck", 5 uses of "goddamn", 7 uses of "shit", 14 uses of "Damn", 2 uses of "son of a bitch", 1 use of "Hell", 4 uses of "ass" (3 used with hole).

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

mild

Some random characters are seen drinking in pubs/bars. One of the kidnappers smokes many cigarettes.

Frightening & Intense Scenes

moderate

Many intense scenes. One involves a home invasion and kidnapping. Some intense scenes include police search of suspicious criminals, a brief car chase, running from peril, shootings, and dangerous encounters. Fargo is not intense and instead plays with violence in a dark comedy manner. So while it has shooting and blood the majority of it in a strange way comes out to be funny. The two thugs may frighten viewers, especially one who is heavily implied to be a psychopath, he never talks and does almost all the killing with relative pleasure and no hesitation. MA15+ ( Strong Violence, Strong Coarse Language & Sex Scenes ) The wood chipper scene is the most graphic in the movie.