Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski has always been my favorite Coens Bros. character, but Marge Gunderson certainly gives him a run for his money.  She is so innocently clever and spritely, that the crimes being commited on her watch are all the more horrible.  The acting is top notch (Especially Frances McDormand and William H. Macy) and the humor/drama relationship is finely tuned.  In a film handled less delicately, the goofy personnas of the midwest may feel contrived.  In FARGO, they are perfect.  What a fun, funny, disturbing, original film.