The Minus Man . Tucson Weekly . 10-18-99

The Minus Man

DIRECTED BY: Hampton Fancher

REVIEWED: 10-18-99

You don't often encounter a slow-paced, non-violent film about a serial killer, but that's just what you'll find in The Minus Man. The screen adaptation -- based on the critically acclaimed 1991 novel by Lew McCreary -- stays fairly close to the original story, though its nuances may be more readily appreciated by former readers than those coming in blind. The basic plot follows fugitive turned postal worker Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson), a likable, at times seemingly naïve everyman, who just happens to deliver a rare, lethal poison to his victims -- a junkie (Sheryl Crow), a high-school football star, a businessman -- by dispensing a nip from his innocuous flask of Southern Comfort. Whereas flashbacks in the book reveal a history of physical abuse and failed sexual encounters, the movie instead sticks to Vann's own perspective on his behavior, revealed mostly through short, voiceover narratives and surreal encounters with his imaginary friends, detectives Graves and Blair (Dwight Yoakam). Vann's flat sincerity passes for charm among the emotionally needy cast of characters surrounding him, such as the masochistic husband and bereft wife (Mercedes Ruehl) who take him in, and his smitten co-worker (Janeane Garofalo). Deadpan funny and creepy in its unraveling of hypernormal characters, it's one of those movies that will play in your head long after you leave the theater.

--Mari Wadsworth

Full Length Reviews
The Minus Man
The Minus Man

Capsule Reviews
The Minus Man

Film Vault Suggested Links
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Shock Corridor
Murder in the First

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