Im Zeichen der Jungfrau

January man is kind of a neat movie that is clearly a romantic comedy masquerading as a psychological thriller. It has a wonderful cast, an acclaimed screenwriter and even a Marvin Hamlisch score. The film was billed as almost an older version of 'The Bone Collector'. But it seems more like a serial killer version of 'Moonstruck'. I can see why many people were disappointed in the film. They saw the movie from a totally different angle. The serial killer (the January man) is almost ancillary to the actual plot of the movie. It is a Kevin Kline driven vehicle with a old and new love interest(Sarandon & Mastrantonio). It has the re-reinstatement of a hero cop who takes a fall from grace for his brother (Harvey Keitel)and is banished from the police department and is relegated to fighting fires rather than criminals. It has the cro-magnon police captain (Aiello) and the even older Mayor(Steiger). All these pieces of the puzzle come together to provide decent little film which I think is clearly misunderstood.

A serial killer is being chased by a detective (Kevin Kline). Along the way he has 2 romantic affairs and a quarrel with his brother. That's about it. And that's not a lot, story-wise speaking.

Great actors are the ONLY thing keeping this silly romantic detective afloat. But only just... However great these actors normally are, they dont act well in this movie, but since they are all great actors anyway their famous names suckered me into watching it. Wish I hadnt...sigh...

Basically all the actors are miscast in this movie. I really cant believe in any of the characters. The story is fluffy and the dialogues are mediocre. There is NO true suspense, which is kind of annoying, since it is a detective. There are few good jokes. The romantic scenes are many and they all are quite ridiculous, because they are not believable.

What's there left to like? Well it has got the promise of becoming great, because all these actors are terrific in OTHER movies. Unfortunately they aint terrific in this one. Skip it. Or watch it with the same feeling of promise and hope that it still might turn out to be okay, only to find out that it wont...sigh...

If you're looking for extreme suspense and top-notch thriller, go watch Seven. But if you're looking for a nice little movie with stellar cast, very good acting and silly story that'll amuse you for some 90 minutes, then try The January man. It is silly - an absurd mix of thriller, comedy, romance, drama, good cop - bad cop, the story is full of flaws, but the movie itself is really well done. Too many people around wonder where's logic in it and give it low rating because of that, but The dark knight (with sillier story and average acting) is somehow best film of a decade?!? This is a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously and neither should you.

First things first, this film has a few problems with trying to work out what it wants to be. Some of the scenes are a bit ridiculous and unrealistic, and sometimes it gets a bit slow. But that could be said about some hugely successful blockbuster films as well.

Underneath this is a good little crime thriller with some likable characters who are trying to work out the clues to catch a killer with a taste for strangling women in their city apartments.

Kevin Kline is enjoyable, Susan Sarandon and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio are classy, Harvey Keitel doesn't really do much and Alan Rickman kind of floats around to help loosen up the mood of the film. Some of the dialog sounds like it was lifted from an adapted play or is better for an older, more mature generation.

But, the stand out star of this film is Danny Aiello, who plays Captain Vincent Alcoa. He has a filthy mouth, loves yelling and putting people down all the time and has to deal with a Kline as a difficult police detective who returns to the job.

The film alone is worth seeing for his performance.

One of Kevin Kline's better films. An interesting thriller of a flic with a very good supporting cast. So good in fact that Danny Aiello as the highly agitated police administrator & Alan Rickman as "Ed" nearly steal the show. The movie has an interesting plot and some reasonably good humor to go along with the suspense of the story line. If you're looking for a good suspense movie, a few laughs or if you're just a Kevin Kline fan who wants to catch up on his back catalog give January Man a play. You definitely won't regret it.