Movie Review: Copycat (1995)

Genre: Serial Killer Thriller

Director: Jon Amiel

Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, Harry Connick Jr., Will Patton

Running Time: 123 minutes

Synopsis: In San Francisco, criminal psychologist Dr. Helen Hudson (Sigourney Weaver) is suffering from agoraphobia a year after narrowly surviving a brutal assault by serial killer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jr.). With Callum now in prison, Inspector MJ Monahan (Holly Hunter) and her partner Inspector Reuben Goetz (Dermot Mulroney) seek Helen's help to capture a new serial killer preying on women. Hudson deduces the assailant is copying the methods of famous serial killers from the past, but there is also a more sinister motive behind the killings.

What Works Well: László Kovács' classy cinematography enhances slick production values, and director Jon Amiel keeps the action moving and never far away from the next thrill. The excellent duo of Sigourney Weaver (sophisticated but traumatized) and Holly Hunter (whipsmart but jaded) are complemented by a sinister and unhinged Harry Connick Jr. performance. Dr. Hudson's house is an architectural beauty and almost makes agoraphobia an attractive proposition. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Most of the plot details do not withstand retrospective scrutiny, the killer's identity is at first vague then irrelevant, and a side-plot involving MJ's ex-romantic interest Inspector Nicoletti (Will Patton) is only irritating. Given the narrative intentions, the psychotic Daryll Lee Callum deserved much more visible involvement.

Conclusion: Superficially attractive but substantively lacking a cutting edge.



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Movie Review: Lovely & Amazing (2001)

Genre: Dramedy

Director: Nicole Holofcener

Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dermot Mulroney, Aunjanue Ellis

Running Time: 91 minutes

Synopsis: Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn) is raising her adopted black pre-teen daughter Annie (Raven Goodwin), and also has two grown daughters: Michelle (Catherine Keener) is unemployed and dabbling in trinkety crafts, while Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer) is a struggling actress. All of them have self-esteem issues: Jane opts for liposuction; Michelle accepts a menial job where she meets teenager Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal); Elizabeth is judged "not sexy enough" and has a fling with a star actor (Dermot Mulroney); while Annie is eating her way to weight issues and awakening to the challenges of being black.

What Works Well: Writer and director Nicole Holofcener conceives an understated slice-of-women's-life drama focusing on insecurities undermining both mental and physical health, as the inability to move past self-criticism and superficial judgements is passed on from Jane to all her daughters. Refreshingly, the smart script is too genuine to seek redemption arcs, leading to well-rounded, flawed, and honest characters.

What Does Not Work As Well: The emotional toiling of a not-necessarily-likable group of non-achievers carries limited lasting relevance.

Conclusion: Pleasingly untidy but borders on inconsequential.



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Movie Review: Georgia Rule (2007)

A drama with some humour about three generations of women, Georgia Rule creates a good ambience in exploring cascading emotional damage, but mishits some key notes. 

Wealthy Californian Lily Wilcox (Felicity Huffman) has just about had enough of her troublesome teenaged daughter Rachel (Lindsay Lohan), and as a last resort sends her to spend the summer before college with Lily's mom (and Rachel's grandma) Georgia (Jane Fonda) in small town, Idaho. Georgia runs her life according to strict rules, which had caused Lily to resort to alcohol and flee her childhood home at the earliest opportunity. 

Now the rebellious Rachel delights in finding ways to break her grandma's rules, although she does accept a summer job at the office of veterinarian Simon Ward (Dermot Mulroney), a widower who once was Lily's serious boyfriend. Rachel will attempt to seduce any man, and sets her flirtatious eyes on the town's hunky Harlan (Garrett Hedlund), although he already has a girlfriend. But when Rachel suggest to both Simon and Georgia that she was a victim of sexual abuse by her stepdad Arnold (Carey Elwes), the summer takes a serious turn.

Written by Mark Andrus and directed by Garry Marshall, Georgia Rule benefits from the dynamic of three women coping with various degrees of damage caused by missteps and unmet expectations passed on over the decades. With grandma Georgia enjoying the home field advantage of a quaint small town setting, Marshal mixes pathos, emotional scars and inter-generational conflicts to good effect.

The first two thirds maintain a high engagement level. Rachel as a mouthy fish caught in a backwater rocks the town, with Lindsay Lohan revelling in an attitude of unfettered rebelliousness to agitate as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. In contrast Fonda's Georgia is suitably subdued, satisfied with imposing her rules and letting the world revolve around them as it may. Huffman's Lily is caught in the middle between insufferable mother and uncontrollable daughter, and her exasperation is about to turn to disbelief with Rachel's revelations about sexual abuse.

Here Andrus and Marshall lose some control, the final act revolving around a series of lies and counter-lies, the truth lost in a flurry of accusations and denials. While the turmoil is consistent with Rachel's personality and Lily's determination to willfully ignore discord, the focus settles on a search for honesty, the crime of child molestation somehow confined to the narrative backseat but still clashing with the dramedy structure.

Despite overextending towards topics incompatible with the intended bittersweet tones, the refreshingly imperfect women of Georgia Rule do bloom by challenging the norms.



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Movie Review: My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)

A mean-spirited romantic comedy, My Best Friend's Wedding wastes the star power of Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz on unfunny and unromantic drivel.

New York restaurant critic Julianne (Roberts) broke up with sports writer Michael (Dermot Mulroney) nine years ago and they became best friends. Secretly she remains in love with him but terrified of committing to anyone. Now Michael calls from Chicago to invite Julianne to his upcoming wedding to college student Kimmy (Diaz), a seemingly perfect soul mate who comes from a wealthy family.

Julianne travels to Chicago with every intention of sabotaging the wedding. She meets Kimmy and finds her sweet, loving and dedicated to Michael. Nevertheless Julianne tries to create a wedge around Kimmy's planned sacrifices for Michael's on-the-road career. When Julianne's efforts misfire, she calls her gay friend George (Rupert Everett) for help, but he will not necessarily support her devious intentions.

Despite the expected glossy production values, My Best Friend's Wedding never shifts into gear. Writer Ronald Bass attempts to subvert the genre my placing sweetheart Julia Roberts in the despicable role of breaking up a wedding, and the results are as expected: a selfish, hostile and dark soul as the supposed protagonist, sucking all joy out of the film.

In her rush to destroy the happy couple Julianne sprints past rash and into pure dumb territory, never once pausing to reflect on the type of relationship she may have with Michael should she succeed in ruining his perfect day. And it's not as though Michael is presented as any sort of prize. In Dermot Mulroney's hands the beau is a bland open-mouthed shell of a man, providing no clues why women like Julianne and Kimmy would fall for him. The vacuum at the core creates an opening for Rupert Everett as George to ride in and almost save the day, Julianne and George inadvertently emerging as the real best friends.

With no wit to be found in the script, director P.J. Hogan resorts to repetitive and elemental physical comedy from the trip-and-fall category, even trudging out the let's-all-run-after-each-other trick. Elsewhere, a karaoke session and a restaurant sing-along both start with promise but are then over-played. 

My Best Friend's Wedding should be cancelled due to lack of effort, heart and soul.



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Movie Review: Must Love Dogs (2005)

The romantic comedy meets on-line dating for an exploratory coffee, with results that mix pleasant small talk with a sweet-enough hug and kiss on the cheek at the end of the night as a strong cast helps push Must Love Dogs towards watchable territory.

Sarah (Diane Lane), an elementary schoolteacher in her early forties, is in a prolonged post-divorce slump, frumpy and semi-depressed despite the best attempts of her sister Carol (Elizabeth Perkins) to get her back into a relationship. Sarah's mood is not improved when she realizes that her widowed dad Bill (Christopher Plummer) is enjoying the single life with a succession of dates and overlapping relationships. Sarah is attracted to the hunky but shifty Bob (Dermot Mulroney), the parent of one of her students, but this does not stop Carol signing up Sarah to an on-line dating service, including in her profile that her suitors "must love dogs". Sarah immediately gets responses from 18 interested men, but most turn into the usual first-date disasters.

Jake (John Cusack) builds classic wooden canoes that nobody wants to buy, and his divorce has just been finalized. A hopeless romantic addicted to repeated viewings of Doctor Zhivago, Jake's divorce reinforces his view of love being doomed to tragic failure. His lawyer friend Charlie (Ben Shenkman) eventually convinces him to respond to on-line dating ads, where he ends up as one of Sarah's dates. Although their initial meetings are just short of disastrous, Sarah and Jake ignite enough of a spark to persist with building a relationship that eventually flourishes, pushing Sarah to decide between Jake's sensitivity and Bob's ruggedness.

John Cusack and Diane Lane make an engaging couple, mixing comic awkwardness with the warmth of damaged hearts looking to believe in love again. They are surrounded by a better than usual supporting cast, led by the indefatigable Christopher Plummer as Bill, marching ever onwards in his career and not hesitating to pursue companionship and romance as Sarah's sprightly dad. Stockard Channing adds colour as the earthy Dolly, one of Bill's more durable arm ornaments. Elizabeth Perkins, Dermot Mulroney and Ben Shenkman contribute welcome depth to the talent level.

Director Gary David Goldberg translates the quality of his television productions Family Ties and Spin City to the screen, keeping the comedy understated and allowing his stars to shine unencumbered by boorish behaviour or larger-than-life episodes.

On-line dating quickly transitioned from novelty to mainstream, and Must Love Dogs dates itself as an exploration of romance enabled by technology that was only new for a short period. Nevertheless, the film survives because as this genre never fails to remind us, true love triumphs over all adversity.

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