© 2008 William Ahearn
One of the oddest things about Hampton Francher’s 1999 “The Minus Man” is the cast. Owen Wilson, Sheryl Crow and Janeane Garofalo aren’t the usual suspects when putting together the typical serial killer film.
“The Minus Man” isn’t a typical serial killer film. The story is that Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson) aimlessly drives his pickup truck around the United States and poisons unhappy people. Using poison in the axe-wielding necrophilia-filled world of serial killing is known as getting in touch with your feminine side.
After killing a junkie, Siegert rents a room from Doug Derwin (played by Brian Cox – the original Hannibal Lector in “Manhunter” and Melvin Belli in “Zodiac”) and his wife Jane (Mercedes Ruehl). And gets a temporary job at the post office (employers of David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz and Robert Shulman).
Two detectives haunt Siegert’s sleep and whether it’s a flashback or flash forward isn’t clear. What is clear is that this is a film that is almost sympathetic toward the killer. He’s portrayed as a polite, responsible and caring individual although his relationship with Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo) isn’t going very well.
This is the kind of slant – the sympathetic killer – that leads to the concept of the TV show “Dexter” where a serial killer kills other killers. It reduces murder to caricature and that really only works for me in comedy.
There is a similar – but not really sympathetic – film with Bob Hoskins and I saw Atom Egoyan’s 1999 “Felicia’s Journey” a while back because I will watch Bob Hoskins shovel snow. Hoskins has made several good crime films including “The Long Good Friday” and “Mona Lisa” and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the original “Pennies From Heaven.” In “Felicia’s Journey,” Hoskins plays a successful caterer who has a sideline befriending and killing young women. He is tormented by his mother but she’s not rotting in the root cellar; he replays her TV cooking show on videotape. This is a film about characters and definitely worth seeing. There is no graphic violence.