Ask any Hollywood A-lister: The Minnesota accent is an enigma. Emma Thompson is the latest to give it a stab. Thompson stars in the thriller, “Dead of Winter,” which is set in rural Minnesota and ...

Her performance won her an Oscar for best actress, but to many Minnesotans, her over-the-top accent was cartoonish and polarizing. “We don’t talk like that” is a common rebuttal, but let’s be honest, ...