COPYCAT
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Released too close to SEVEN and suffering heavily by comparison, this is the story of another serial killer with a theme to his killings. In this case the killer is imitating famous serial killers of the past. But here the killer's personal theme is more McGuffin and less the driving force of the plot. Too much of this film falls into the realm of "woman in distress versus stalker" cliche. Over-rated performances by Weaver and Hunter are sufficient, but not memorable. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4).
As serial killer films go, COPYCAT is above average in gloss and suspense, but it was disastrous to release it just a few weeks after SEVEN. What this film does best, SEVEN did even better. Both were about serial killers whose crimes formed a pattern. In SEVEN that pattern really drove the plot, in this film the theme makes the killings more interesting, but it is much less essential to the plot. While that film had a dark atmosphere of impending evil, this film is slick and wastes the viewer's time with familiar sequences of the killer stalking and terrorizing his victim in traditional fashion.
Popular crime psychologist Helen Hudson (played by Sigourney Weaver) is severely traumatized by an all-too-close encounter with killer Daryll Lee Cullum (Harry Connick, Jr.). She has retreated into her overly-gorgeous apartment and refuses to leave. A little over a year later there is another serial killer and hard-as-nails police detective M. J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) reluctantly enlists Hudson's help to hunt down the killer. Unfortunately the killer has decided that Hudson is the victim he most wants to see as a trophy. While he recreates the crimes of the great serial killers of the past he is also zeroing in on Hudson. Like Rex Stout, Hudson tries to solve the crime without ever leaving her apartment but her agoraphobia also makes hera sitting target for the killer.
If it sounds too much like every other serial killer film on cable, the story is a bit more complex, but not a lot. There is some interest value in Hunter's performance as the tough cop. If it were a man in the role it would not merit a second glance, but the casting of Hunter gives this film a bit more attention than it really deserves. This story of a formula killer is written by Ann Biderman and David Madsen, themselves no slouches in following formulae. How do they express that Hudson has a sterile intellect? She listens to opera, of course. How do they turn up the tension? Well, have the killer stalk Hudson while she is vulnerable in the shower. How do we make the killer a formidable opponent? Well give him any talent or ability he needs to carry the plot. This is a man who is a technical expert, an expert housebreaker, a terrific computer hacker, and someone who can arrange convenient coincidences as the occasion requires. He seems clever by mandate of the scriptwriter, not because he impresses us with his thought processes. Director Jon Amiel is not known for suspense work in the past, his best known work being TV's "The Singing Detective" and SOMMERSBY. His first foray into suspense just pushes a lot of familiar buttons.
COPYCAT may not be a copycat film, but much too much has been done before and much too much of the tense climactic sequence is telegraphed. This is a disappointing low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews