Movie Review - The Minus Man (1999), Part 2

(Continues from Part 1.)

One faint light of redemption in the whole movie flares up briefly in the form of the flickering attraction between the sociopath Vann and the warm and vivacious postal co-worker Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo) who falls for him. But Vann is not entirely cooperative and he can't help revealing the ugly layers hiding under his cool and collected surface despite Ferrin's obvious availability.

The imaginary detective duo of Blair and Graves (Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert) add interesting flashbacks and dream sequences, an deepen our understanding of Vann's background. Without such scenes we wouldn't know whether Vann was troubled at all with his past life and deeds.

But in the final analysis, Vann is a guy who quips more than once that "a spider crawled in my ear once, but then he crawled out because nobody was home." The vacuum in his soul is beyond hope. He is beyond salvation. That's true. But he proves to be beyond detection and justice as well.

The ending of the movie is a departure from the well-accepted Hollywood formulas, worthy of the French cinematic tradition.

All actors in this Hampton Fancher written and directed piece perform well above the average. Owen Wilson, who so frequently appears in frivolous romantic comedies, proves that he is more than a just pretty face good at only injecting his preppy characters with commercially-safe buffoonery.

Mercedes Ruehl is hypnotizing in every role and she doesn't fail in this one either. In terms of sheer on-screen presence, she reminds me the Oscar-winner Helen Mirren.

Brian Cox, on the other hand, is our new Emmet Walsh -- a character actor with an unsuspected depth, explosive power and mountains of held-back reserve. He is hard to figure out and is just plain amazing.

And I forgot the number of times I've watched Dwight Yoakam as a sheriff or a detective. That must be a record for a bona fide music mega-star. He is really getting typecast.

If you like thrillers and murder stories, this one is definitely recommended. An 8 out of 10.

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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a senior writer and web content consultant with 20 years of experience.

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