Feeling Minnesota

If you like Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, Dan Ackroyd and Vincent D'onofrio. Rent this movie. I just finished watching it and I was intrigued by it, waiting to see what would happen next. I thought Ke did a great job as did Cameron, Dan and Vincent. Not once did I regret renting it. It's all relative people.

I really liked this movie. It reminded me of the movie "Fargo." There were enough twists and turns mixed in with the goofball depiction of the characters to keep me interested. I thought the acting was good enough to make the characters surreal rather than stupid. This is a movie worth watching repeatedly. As usual, Keanu Reeves does a great job with his character from beginning to end in a spontaneous fashion as the situation is very fluid.

This film suffers from being a hybrid between the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino in part. It's not violent or ironic enough to be a Joel Coen creation and not obscenity-laden or gory enough to be a Tarantino product. There is humor, however, in the bumbling of Vinny D'Onofrio's character and in Reeve's typically understated role. You get the idea the real "bad guy" in the film is the neglectful, dope-smoking mother who allows the older brother to brutalize and bully the younger. It's topped off with more goofiness with Aykroyd's Krazy Kop and Delroy Lindo's Gangsta role (I particularly liked the red hair gimmick). I missed this one when it came out and rented the video because I found the name, Feeling Minnesota, remindful of the Coen Brother's Raising Arizona. I found it very watchable and rather liked the ridiculous situations very dysfunctional people get themselves into. The only glitch seemed to be Cameron Diaz who at times seemed unsure what her character was all about. Still, there is much in this film to recommend it. I would ignore the more negative reviews found here: I've no idea what these people were expecting or wanting. Check this movie out for yourself and you decide.

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.

Watching this movie on running trait in all the characters stood out, their quirkiness. The strange slightly surreal and offbeat tone of the film was quite reminiscent of Tarantino's work. I loved this film, and thought the little laughs hidden in the film made me like it. I watched this with a couple of friends, they too liked it, but we each noticed and laughed at different things.

I also loved the constant twists and turns and changes to the dynamic of the story. It starts out as Freddy paying back a debt but changes into an affair on the road, then finding some stashed money, hiding from the cops, then hiding a murder and so on. Oddly despite all of these twists and turns I never got lost but was glued to my screen figuring out who's with who and who's looking out for who.

The fights between the two brothers, Sam (Vince D'Onofrio) and Jjax(Keanu Reeves) are some of the funniest things i have ever seen on screen. Reeves put in a good performance as a bumbling crook and D'Onofrio carries himself well as his childish brother. The ever angelic Diaz puts in a good show too. Lindo and Akroyd raised a few smiles too.

Don't pay any attention to the bad reviews here. They were just people looking for a ho-hum romantic comedy when instead they got a witty dark comedy.(My kind of film) 3.75/5