Feeling 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.

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

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.

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.

Bottom line, this is a very funny, silly, slapstick, goofy film - but very adult, with twists and turns as the largely amoral characters grapple and use each other to get what they want. None of the characters are particularly likable, Jjaks (Reeves) seems the most put upon but he's in and out of prison and Freddie (Diaz) is a good time girl who messed with the wrong people and is just doing what she has to do to get by. It's also a sort of romantic love story although despite Reeves acting superbly and being rather cute, the chemistry between him and Diaz is lacking something. Diaz, I don't feel is acting her best and often is a somewhat monotone, as if reading lines, but they are enjoyable to watch and whilst I think she's the weakest performance she has the most difficult and emotionally exposing role and in that case I think she does well. It's the scenes with Reeves and D'Onofrio that are truly engaging in an anti-chemistry kind of way. They rub each other up the wrong way - sibling rivalry - Jjaks having had the bad end of every deal in their childhood - and in doing so provide some scarily good aggression and slapstick comedy timing genius ensues. It's a film where you have to watch closely, for some grand scale and also minutiae performances, and it can be watched over and over again for laughs and the drama. Reeves is animated and light - like Diaz, I think he suits comedy and there are plenty of funny scenes (albeit black comedy as often as not) to enjoy. Diaz is both charming and annoying - her character is understandable and relatable (possibly due to her performance making it so) but also largely without scruples and single mindedness: her dream of working in Vegas - and I like that whilst it ends satisfactorily, it's not particularly Hollywood in it's ending and it's predictable but pleasantly so. Dan Aykroyd is the hapless, stupid, love-sick, cop on the take with a very overblown Minnesota accent - or is it Canadian, or Irish? He brings more laughs, and Courtney Love in a small but nice role adds small town glamour and a stable foil for some of D'Onofrio's eccentric behaviours.

Adults only black comedy, lots of bad language, scenes of a sexual nature (though not gratuitous) and a lot of violence and aggression. The subject matter, and plot, make for a very dramatic film but it's played for laughs which makes it an enjoyable romp with all the actors giving it 100%. Amazingly this film flew under the radar of 90s cinema-going and is an unexpectedly good film that I've seen a number of times and it doesn't get old. Not a chick-flick although it may appear as such, and plenty for boys to enjoy.