COPYCAT
A film review by Michael John Legeros
Copyright 1995 Michael John Legeros
(WB) Directed by Jon Amiel Written by Ann Biderman and David Madsen Cast Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, Will Patton, Harry Connick Jr. MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence, language, and gore) Running Time 123 minutes Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh, (27OCT95)
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In the new thriller COPYCAT, Sigourney Weaver plays Helen Hunter, a criminal psychologist whose specialty is serial killers. That is, whose specialty *was*. She's since retired, after an attack thirteen months ago left her an agoraphobic alcoholic. (She can't leave her heavily-reinforced home without a drink and a panic attack, and not necessarily in that order.) Into Helen's protected world steps a diminutive detective (*Holly* Hunter), who needs her help in solving a string of brutal murders. (Is there any other kind?) As it turns out, there's another demented, young white male on the loose. Except this one is imitating the most infamous killers in history.
Sitting-duck slasher pics don't come much more effective than this. Directory Jon Amiel (SOMMERSBY) keeps twisting the screws, combining a stalker's POV in almost every other shot, with plenty of throbbing music, and gratuitous scenes of the killer planning his crimes. (Ladies, please trim your fingernails before attending with your dates.) All very effective devices that are dressed-up considerably by screenwriters Ann Bidermand and David Madsen. Their story is intelligent, though way too overplotted to be logical.** The psychology adds up okay, even if this is really just a big boo-house at heart. Where SEVEN was stylish, COPYCAT is shameless. Where MANHUNTER was moody, COPYCAT is manipulative. And so on.
The casting is choice. After three ALIEN bug-hunts, Sigourney Weaver certainly can play peril. Her foil, Holly Hunter, is surprisingly effective, despite her small size and smaller voice. "Have the mice stopped screaming, Clarice?" The partner is played a solid Dermot Mulroney. (Together, they patrol the streets of San Francisco as "Monahan and Getz." Such great cop names!) In a substantially smaller role, Harry Connick Jr. is a hoot as a backwoods bad guy whose resemblance to Jim Varney suggests the title for the inevitable sequel: ERNEST GOES A-KILLIN'.
Grade: B+
**- The audience has too much time to wonder about such things as why Weaver's character doesn't own a gun. Or, where and on what planet did she find such a fast modem for her computer? Or, if anybody else thinks that Weaver could pass for Hugh Grant's older sister?
-- Michael J. Legeros - Raleigh, NC legeros@nando.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w)
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