2. 'Fargo'

Jerry Lundegaard, Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud (William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare) in 'Fargo' (1996)

Jerry's scheme to have Carl and Gaear kidnap his wife in order to extort a ransom from her rich father was never too brilliant to begin with, but the violently bungled execution of the plan makes it all the worse. It doesn't help that they're up against persistent local police chief Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), surely the most cheerful, least neurotic sleuth in movie history. As a result, the most memorably muddle-headed crooks in the whole Coen pantheon see their (not too) carefully laid plans go right into the woodchipper.