Oh Ya, You Betcha! The Best (and Worst) Minnesotan Accents in Movies and TV

I love accents, but I don't always love them in film and TV, especially when they don't quite land.

One of the most difficult accents for many actors is the one found in Minnesota, rooted in Scandinavian affectations and often delivered with a smile.

Keely Wolter, an accent and dialogue coach, told The Star Tribune that despite the bright tone of the accent, it also carries a lot of tension, with firm lips and limited jaw movement.

"As Minnesotans, we tend to keep our jaws and lips pretty tight," she said. "It's almost like we're doing a bit of a tense smile, which I think is a nice manifestation of the Minnesota Nice idea."

There's no accent like it. Plus, the Minnesotan accent you see in movies is almost always exaggerated for comedic effect. Real Minnesotans don't usually sound like caricatures, just like every Texan doesn't sound like they're rustlin' cattle, but Hollywood has never met a vowel it couldn't stretch into the next county.

Most performances take "don'tcha know" to extremes. Here are the portrayals that nailed it, or at least had fun with it.

Fargo (1996) and the Fargo TV Series

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Starting with the obvious here, but it's an icon for a reason because it put Minnesota on the map, in terms of movie accents. The Coen brothers' film immortalized Minnesota accents with its distinctive "o" sounds and singsong cadence.

Frances McDormand's portrayal of pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson in the original Fargo won her an Oscar for Best Actress. You'll hear that many Minnesotans found her over-the-top accent to be cartoonish and polarizing, but she got coaching from Minneapolis native Larissa Kokernot, who played one of the hilarious sex workers in the film.

The FX series expanded this universe with a rotating cast of actors tackling the accent. Kirsten Dunst brought her Drop Dead Gorgeous experience to Season 2 as Peggy Blumquist, delivering a goofy but fitting accent. (She has family in Minnesota, too.)

Allison Tolman's Molly Solverson emphasized the singsong quality, and Colin Hanks exercised admirable restraint as Gus Grimly. Not every performance landed (Ewan McGregor faced a uniquely difficult challenge working against his natural Scottish) but the series gave us the accent over several fun seasons.

Drop Dead Gorgeous

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This dark comedy mockumentary about a small-town Minnesota beauty pageant features over-the-top parodies of Minnesota accents. As mentioned, Dunst's accent was honed by listening to her family members.

The movie is essentially a Fargo knockoff, but it earned its cult status by leaning into every "you betcha" with genuine affection for the weirdness of small-town Minnesota.

Dead of Winter

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Emma Thompson stars in this thriller set in rural Minnesota, where she learned the accent from Tracy Dooley, who is the aunt of the film's co-writer, Dalton Leeb.

"We just start talkin' and we talk about anything that was going on in our lives," said Dooley (via The Star Tribune).

Thompson plays Barb Sorenson with a Gunderson-like accent, complete with dialogue like "Freakin' fiddlesticks shitbuns!"

Leeb wanted her to sound like his late grandmother, a strong woman who could confront adversity with humor. The result is a performance where a British actor committed fully to Minnesota nice.

North Country

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This 2005 film about sexual harassment at an Iron Range mine actually nailed the accent, according to people from the Range.

Charlize Theron called it "the hardest accent I've ever had to do," and the actors spent time among the locals to get it right (via Chicago Tribune).

Unlike Fargo's exaggerated comedy, North Country captured the Scandinavian and Eastern European immigrant influences. It's not as flashy as other entries on this list, but it's arguably the most accurate.

Grumpy Old Men

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Written by Minnesota native Mark Steven Johnson about the people he knew in Wabasha, Grumpy Old Men was filmed entirely in locations around Minnesota. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau play feuding neighbors with just enough accent to feel authentic.

This one captures small-town Minnesota without making the accent itself the joke.

Juno

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This coming-of-age story about a teenager's unplanned pregnancy references the Twin Cities and St. Cloud, though it wasn't actually filmed in Minnesota. Former Minnesotan Diablo Cody won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for this one.

There aren't strong accents here, but Cody's script captures the rhythms of Minnesota speech, particularly in the dialogue's dry humor and understated delivery. There's plenty of regional slang and a more neutral Midwestern tone, which many locals appreciate.

New in Town

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This romantic comedy stars Renée Zellweger as a Miami businesswoman adjusting to life in a tiny Minnesota town, and the accents are really campy.

The film uses the strong Minnesotan/Scandinavian accent throughout, and it feels like a caricature, enough to put some local viewers off.

The movie at least gets credit for mentioning hot dish, the most Minnesota food reference possible besides lutefisk.

A Serious Man

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This Coen brothers' film is set in 1967 Bloomington, Minnesota, and focuses on the trials and tribulations of Larry Gopnik, a Jewish physics professor. Sidebar, it's one of my favorites of all time, even though the deeply personal nature of the story (and its dybbuk framing device) makes it enigmatic for some viewers.

Interestingly, the accents are notably understated, like in Juno. The Coens can do Minnesota without making it a joke.

A Prairie Home Companion

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Garrison Keillor partnered with director Robert Altman to make the film version of his radio show, and they filmed at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul with Hollywood stars like Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, Lily Tomlin, and Woody Harrelson.

The accents here are subtle and more generic Midwestern.

Purple Rain

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Another one that focuses on naturalism, Prince's semi-autobiographical film showcases the vibrant Minneapolis music scene. It captures the essence of the city during the 1980s, filmed almost entirely in the city and featuring many landmarks.

Does anyone really have a thick Minnesota accent in this movie? Not really. Prince fans even wondered why he didn't have an accent like in Fargo. Obviously, there are regional and cultural differences at play here, too.

But Purple Rain represents Minnesota by showing that not everyone sounds like they're playing a Coen character.