The Minus Man

Rating:
Summary: The Minus Man is a spectacular film!
Review: This film lived up to all of my expectations. I'd seen the ad campaign and heard reviews from friends saying it was an intense film, and after watching it, I had to agree! I thought it was a terrific adaptation from the book, and I was as much disturbed as I was pleased. I love to have my ideas of normalcy challenged! Owen Wilson played the part really well- toned down and kind on the outside... Garofalo played a smitten, sensitive woman for the first time I've seen, and was perfect in her role! All the acting in this movie is great, but I was most surprised by Sheryl Crow's performance. She was totally in character and a lot of fun to watch.

I had to own this movie- I found that it translated great on DVD in widescreen.

Rating:
Summary: The Minus Man - Top Ten List 1999
Review: This is a masterpiece. Part Lost Highway, part American Psycho, it is meditative and challenging. I highly recommend it to someone who isn't afraid of a little thinking, and has an attention span. Do yourself a favor and ignore the reviewers who complain of boredom and Owen Wilson's voice. He gives one of the best performances of 1999, he is a phenomenal talent.

Rating:
Summary: There's A Hole In The Middle
Review: This is the movie that convinced me that Owen Wilson is for real; it also confirms what a lot of us already suspected: Janeane Garofalo is a perfect woman.

But something is missing from the film; too much time is spent focused on disassociated trivialities: hands picking up pieces of paper, feet walking on pavement, car tires rolling on asphalt. They are images that add up to nothing, mean little to the story, and serve only to pad out the playing time.

But the story is interesting and the acting--especially Wilson, Garofalo, and Dwight Yokum--make it well worth watching. Not a great movie, but a good, quirky, off-beat one.

Rating:
Summary: Very Realistic
Review: This was an excellent off beat movie about a serial killer. For once we can finally sort of see the world through the killer's perspective. Though it does seem a little slow, it's realistic. I mean if you look at life around you and see how slow it is, like me sitting here typing, you can understand the reality of the Minus Man.

Rating:
Summary: The Void is Between the Ears
Review: Vann Seigert (Owen Wilson) has a little joke he shares with his friends: "I was lying in the grass one time and this spider came along and crawled in my ear. It came out again and you know what it said?" "What" "Nobody home." (big smile)

That lame joke sums up Wilson's character: banal, empty, a cipher, a void, a nil, a negative number, "a minus man." So what is it about this character, who is in every scene in the movie, that makes him so intriguingly watchable? It is the creepy acknowledgment that it is just such a nondescript, seemingly harmless, even likeable person who can contain such a world of evil within. "Don't judge a book by its cover." "Still waters run deep." The movie also investigates the theme of "the banality of evil," a topic that gained credence after the Nuremburg trials. Seemingly average people, with relatively benign upbringing and background, who are nevertheless capable of the most inhumane acts and who go about performing their atrocities in the most calm and matter-of-fact manner.

Van Siegert is indeed the Angel of Death. His acts are more often than not entirely random. There is no prerequisite as far as the selection precess goes. If you happen to cross his path at a particular matrix in time, you will be amongst the chosen. Captain of the football team, heroin addict, a complete stranger in a diner. It could be you.

Owen Wilson, with his boyish, broken nosed surfer looks and his goofy smile, is the perfect vehicle for this unforgettable character. The rest of the cast is splendid, but Brian Cox (the Albert Finney look-alike) is particularly adroit at pulling off a bravura turn as the manic-depressive head of the Durwin household that welcomes Siegert into their fold. This Emmy-winning actor should have been up for an Oscar for his work in this film.

One of the really intriguing things about this movie is the fact that, according to the IMDB, it marks the directorial debut of Hampton Fancher, previously best known as the script writer for Blade Runner. The guy has obviously been around a while and knows how to set up a scene and how to get great performances out of a cast. A most impressive debut, indeed.

For an offbeat, but highly rewarding viewing experience, give The Minus Man a go.

BEK

Rating:
Summary: disappointment
Review: When this came out at the movies, I wanted to see it. Never got around to it and forgot about it. Was at the movie rental place and saw it (they only had two copies, which should have told me something). Rented it and could not wait to see it. Horrible, predictable, boring, the whole nine yards. I cannot say one good thing about this movie. HATED IT!