Minnesota

I did not expect this movie to be as funny as it is. Although dark and situational, comedy is where you find it. This quirky little story is a mess as much as it is painfully funny. An ex-con(Keanu Reeves)shows up empty handed for his brother's wedding. The brother is played excellently by Vincent D'Onofrio, who himself is a dim witted crook. Reeves ends up "boffing" the not so blushing bride(Cameron Diaz), who has her own baggage to deal with. The fighting siblings mother(Tuesday Weld)dies of a heart attack at the wedding reception. The newlywed bride wants to runaway with what she thinks is her new husband's stashed fortune. Reeves and Diaz argue about love at first sight, but are absolutely in lust. D'Onofrio wants his bride back and the comedy of errors, mayhem and murder proceed.

The scenes of the brothers fighting is hilarious, especially the rock fight on the side of the road. Miss Diaz lives up to my infatuation of her. And Dan Aykroyd plays the part of a corrupt, inept detective. Courtney Love is patient and understanding as the waitress in the diner. The wedding singer is Steve Ghizoni. His singing style is quite an oddity...singing Sinatra type mood songs with an almost imitation Elvis like delivery. You have to watch this twice just to take in the wit and humor.

At first, I thought the script itself was mean-spirited and seemingly pointless. However, the movie in its entirety is very effective as a window into the lives of these rotten characters. The actors are the integral component in this movie; each and every one of them is so totally believable that I am still disgusted when I think of the film. I can't think of a single other movie that makes me appreciate it for the ability to draw me in in such a negative manner. I can't see this kind of film being done again, however. I think modern movie audiences come for the spectacle. With this movie, however, they are confronted with the same mediocre, selfish people that probably live in their respective neighborhoods.

started out amazingly - i could not stress enough how original the film is, idiosyncratic and very interesting, new to the best of my knowledge, for about the first half or three quarters of the film ... after that it is either stupid and unrealistic or overdone and exaggerated, eg. the level of violence is inappropriate for the rest of the thing, though even that in itself was fairly original in plot etc. ... the main reason i had the impetus to write about this film was that it was likely the only (or one of the only) keanu reeves films in which he actually performs well and gives an engaging and three dimensional character with EMOTIONS ... i want to like him, i really do ... this film definitely helped ... 7.5/10

Most films starring Keanu Reeves or Cameron Diaz are a safe bet for a big Hollywood blockbuster. This one stars both, yet is a rather low-profile affair which many poeple won't have heard of. Ironically, Reeves gives one of the best performances of his career because he isn't asked to play a one-dimensional man of action. Diaz is eye-opening too, as a foul-mouthed girl trapped in a dead-end existence.

The story tells of a young, aimless ex-con named Jacks Clayton (Reeves) who returns to the uninviting Minnesota town of his birth at the request of his mother (Tuesday Weld). She wants him there for the wedding of his elder brother Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio). However, when Jacks arrives he realises straight away that there's something rather fishy about the wedding. It turns out that Sam's bride Freddy (Diaz) has no desire to get married at all (she's only doing it because a nasty local gangster has bullied her into it). Before the wedding party is even over, Jacks has had sex with Freddy in the toilets; before the week is out, the pair have eloped intending to start over in Las Vegas. Suffice to say, Sam is pretty annoyed by what young Jacks has done....

Feeling Minnesota is a gritty, occasionally funny drama which benefits from its unfamiliar setting. Within its own admittedly twisted logic, the film's odd narrative works reasonably well. However, the characters are so amoral that it becomes hard to care what happens to any of them - including the supposed hero Jacks (who would make a fitting bad guy in most other pictures). The amount of coarse language is rather jarring too. You don't need to find swearing offensive to notice it, but if coarse language does bother you then it's safe to say that you'll be offended by the quantity of it in this film. The plot twists and turns in a very unpredictable manner, and makes for an interesting - if not entirely believable - experience.

I tried very hard to like this movie but unfortunately I failed. While it appears to try to be a "black comedy" it simply appears to be "black" with very little comedy attached. The performances are good for the most part, but it is really difficult to like a movie when every single character in it is so damned unlikable. I mean really, not one single character in this movie had a single redeeming characteristic. Isn;t the purpose of cinema to be our ability to relate to the characters on the screen, in this case the characters are so awful we couldn't care less if any of them lived or died. I watched it once, and then rented it again to watch it again (perhaps thinking it would grow on me the second time) but I turned it off round about the "motel blow job" scene when I really got very bored with the whole thing. Apart from the fact that the actors act their socks off in this movie there is very little to say for it. (and is it just me or does Keanu Reeves wear that same damn suede jacket in EVERY movie he is in? I mean do these movies not have wardrobe in their budget?)