Copycat

A somewhat entertaining movie, that kept me “into it” for most of its runtime (although it’s definitely too long a film at over 120 minutes), offered a handful of suspenseful moments, a decent score and a very good performance from Sigourney Weaver, but ultimately, didn’t overwhelm me on any level.

Here’s a film that I’d always believed to “suck the big one”. Not sure why I had that belief in my mind, but I think it had something to do with Siskel & Ebert roasting it on their show when it originally came out (although I could be wrong on this), or the fact that it came out a little after the ULTIMATE serial killer movie, SEVEN.

Either way, I finally decided to give it a shot tonite and despite remaining interested in the film’s plotline for most of the way, I did have some issues with it. For example, two people close to the leads in this film die, and yet neither one of them shows much sign of emotional loss. There’s also a romance element with Will Patton that is COMPLETELY OUT OF PLACE in this film (why is Patton even in this movie?) and the ending is a little far-fetched (the serial killer’s house burns down so the cops just ASSUME that he was in it?).

But on the whole, I have to say that I was somewhat intrigued by the premise (a serial killer that copies other serial killers), appreciated the performances, especially Weaver, who played a great neurotic shrink and Connick Jr., who did his best hick with a mean psychosis, and liked the directing choices made throughout the film (the shots of Weaver’s agoraphobia really stood out).

So if you wanna get creeped out on a lazy Saturday nite, nachos by your side and the lights down low, you can do much worse than this movie.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian