The Minus Man
Encyclopedia
The Minus Man is a 1999 film based on the novel by Lew McCreary
. It was directed by Hampton Fancher
, who also wrote the screenplay
. The film centers on a psychotic killer whom Fancher describes as "a cross between Psycho's
Norman Bates
, Melville's
Billy Budd
and Being There's
Chauncey Gardner".
) decides to turn left onto a road, striking out on a new path in life. His first stop is a bar, where he meets Casper (Sheryl Crow
, in her first film appearance). They leave the bar together in his truck. Casper asks Vann to pull over at a rest stop to get high. After she shoots up, she balances her syringe on the open glove box, noticing a flask. She asks what is in it, and Vann answers that it is full of amaretto
. After drinking it, she passes out. Vann carries her body into the bathroom and arranges it to look as if she overdosed.
While sleeping on the beach in his truck, Vann is awoken by a cop who tells him he has to get a room somewhere. The next day, he arrives at the home of Doug & Jane Durwin (Brian Cox and Mercedes Ruehl
). He rents out the room of their missing daughter. Doug recommends he look for work at the Post Office
, as they are hiring seasonal help for Christmas
.
As he is tidying up, Vann passes out and daydreams that he is digging a grave. Detectives Blair & Graves (Dwight Yoakam
and Dennis Haysbert
) stand over him, asking taunting questions about his methods. Throughout the film, Vann has imaginary conversations/psychotic breaks with reality with the two detectives. Later, Vann is shown retrieving a kit from under his car. It contains a poison, which he places in the flask and then fills with amaretto.
Doug takes Vann to a high school football game, where he meets a star athlete and his family. A few days later, Vann offers the boy a ride and murders him, burying his body on a beach. He explains in one of the many voice overs about his methods, that he never plans out his murders and he never commits any violence. His victims just go to sleep and do not wake up. Vann also reveals that the murder of the footballer broke two of his personal rules: Don't kill anyone you know, and don't kill anyone from your town.
Vann helps the town search for the missing athlete and even attends his memorial service. His ties to the community grow as he is given more responsibility at the Post Office. One of his co-workers, Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo
), sheepishly pursues him. One day, Doug drives Ferrin to the beach. The pair exchange an awkward hug, which betrays the difficulties Vann has with physical intimacy, despite his warm and outgoing personality with everyone he meets. The embrace occurs directly over the spot where Vann buried the high school footballer.
On Christmas Day, Vann goes to a diner and chooses another victim (Meg Foster
). She invites him to her home, but when he goes inside, he sees that she is a painter. Something about her work disturbs him. When she goes into the kitchen, he flees. Vann eventually returns to the diner and slips poison into the water of a man (Lew McCreary
) eating alone. An autopsy reveals that the death was the result of a rare poison derived from tree bark fungus found in Oregon. The poison is then linked with the murder of Casper. Eventually, the young athlete's body is found and also linked to the same poison. Vann knows that the police will eventually tie the murders to him. While he is looking in the mirror, he pulls some of his hairs off the shoulder of his jacket and puts them in an envelope on which he writes 'FERRiN'.
Suddenly, Jane is found dead by a blow to the back of the head. The police suspect Doug, but Vann is worried that the increased scrutiny from another murder will lead the police to him. During a date with Ferrin, he tries to initiate sex with her by beating her. She is terrified, and Vann is mortified.
The next day, Vann is seen playing the piano - the tune "Aint We Got Fun" - and Doug starts singing and dancing around the room. Suddenly, the police knock on the door and arrest Doug for the murder of Jane. Vann packs his things. Before he leaves town, he puts his postal uniform and the envelope with Ferrin's hair sample in a mailbox. The film ends as he drives on the highway, pursued by the same cop who stopped him on the beach. After taking a good look at him with her spotlight, she smiles at him and takes the right fork in the road while Vann takes the left. In a voice over monologue prior to this scene, Vann vows to stop killing whenever he gets where he is going. However, Vann explains that he does not know where he is going.
. Roger Ebert
called it "a psychological thriller of uncommon power maybe because it's so quiet and devious". In the Los Angeles Times
, Kevin Thomas wrote "it is above all such an unsettling experience you find yourself still taking it all in well after the lights have gone up".
In praising the film, Andrew Sarris
writing for the New York Observer
said, "A surging undercurrent of black comedy drives us out to sea without ever breaking to the surface with glib psychological or sociological explanations. We cannot laugh out loud, nor can we feel any grief." Sarris singles out Garofalo's performance as "incandescent...one of the most enticingly endearing female movie characters in recent years-witty, bubbly, but at the same time lonely and terrified of rejection." Glenn Lovell described the film as "an assured blend of Camus
and Hitch's
small-town classic, Shadow of a Doubt
." in his Variety
review.
The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
.
The main trailer featured the tagline, "When he's around nothing adds up" and touted the film as the product of "the producers of Sling Blade
" and "the writer of Blade Runner
".
Lew McCreary
Lew McCreary is an American author, editor, and speaker.McCreary was born on September 21, 1947. He is a Senior Editor for the Harvard Business Review and previously worked as editorial director of CXO Media Inc., founding the security publication CSO Magazine and frequently serving a source for...
. It was directed by Hampton Fancher
Hampton Fancher
Hampton Fancher is a former actor who became a producer and screenwriter in the late 1970s. Fancher was born to a Mexican mother and an American father in East Los Angeles, California, US. At 15, he ran away to Spain to become a flamenco dancer and renamed himself Mario Montejo. He was married...
, who also wrote the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
. The film centers on a psychotic killer whom Fancher describes as "a cross between Psycho's
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
Norman Bates
Norman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
, Melville's
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
Billy Budd
Billy Budd
Billy Budd is a short novel by Herman Melville.Billy Budd can also refer to:*Billy Budd , a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov, based on Melville's novel...
and Being There's
Being There
Being There is a 1979 American comedy-drama film directed by Hal Ashby. Adapted from the 1971 novella written by Jerzy Kosinski, the screenplay was coauthored by Kosinski and Robert C. Jones. The film stars Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden, Richard A...
Chauncey Gardner".
Plot
The film opens as Vann Siegert (Owen WilsonOwen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
) decides to turn left onto a road, striking out on a new path in life. His first stop is a bar, where he meets Casper (Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, in her first film appearance). They leave the bar together in his truck. Casper asks Vann to pull over at a rest stop to get high. After she shoots up, she balances her syringe on the open glove box, noticing a flask. She asks what is in it, and Vann answers that it is full of amaretto
Amaretto
Amaretto is an Italian sweet almond-flavoured liqueur. It is made from a base of apricot or almond pits, sometimes both.-Etymology:The name is a diminutive of the Italian amaro, meaning "bitter," indicating the distinctive flavour lent by the mandorla amara--the bitter almond or the drupe kernel...
. After drinking it, she passes out. Vann carries her body into the bathroom and arranges it to look as if she overdosed.
While sleeping on the beach in his truck, Vann is awoken by a cop who tells him he has to get a room somewhere. The next day, he arrives at the home of Doug & Jane Durwin (Brian Cox and Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes Ruehl
Mercedes J. Ruehl is an American theater, television and film actor.-Personal life:Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Mercedes J., a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She was raised Catholic. Her father was of German and Irish descent and her...
). He rents out the room of their missing daughter. Doug recommends he look for work at the Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, as they are hiring seasonal help for Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
.
As he is tidying up, Vann passes out and daydreams that he is digging a grave. Detectives Blair & Graves (Dwight Yoakam
Dwight Yoakam
Dwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
and Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Haysbert
Dennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
) stand over him, asking taunting questions about his methods. Throughout the film, Vann has imaginary conversations/psychotic breaks with reality with the two detectives. Later, Vann is shown retrieving a kit from under his car. It contains a poison, which he places in the flask and then fills with amaretto.
Doug takes Vann to a high school football game, where he meets a star athlete and his family. A few days later, Vann offers the boy a ride and murders him, burying his body on a beach. He explains in one of the many voice overs about his methods, that he never plans out his murders and he never commits any violence. His victims just go to sleep and do not wake up. Vann also reveals that the murder of the footballer broke two of his personal rules: Don't kill anyone you know, and don't kill anyone from your town.
Vann helps the town search for the missing athlete and even attends his memorial service. His ties to the community grow as he is given more responsibility at the Post Office. One of his co-workers, Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
), sheepishly pursues him. One day, Doug drives Ferrin to the beach. The pair exchange an awkward hug, which betrays the difficulties Vann has with physical intimacy, despite his warm and outgoing personality with everyone he meets. The embrace occurs directly over the spot where Vann buried the high school footballer.
On Christmas Day, Vann goes to a diner and chooses another victim (Meg Foster
Meg Foster
Megan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...
). She invites him to her home, but when he goes inside, he sees that she is a painter. Something about her work disturbs him. When she goes into the kitchen, he flees. Vann eventually returns to the diner and slips poison into the water of a man (Lew McCreary
Lew McCreary
Lew McCreary is an American author, editor, and speaker.McCreary was born on September 21, 1947. He is a Senior Editor for the Harvard Business Review and previously worked as editorial director of CXO Media Inc., founding the security publication CSO Magazine and frequently serving a source for...
) eating alone. An autopsy reveals that the death was the result of a rare poison derived from tree bark fungus found in Oregon. The poison is then linked with the murder of Casper. Eventually, the young athlete's body is found and also linked to the same poison. Vann knows that the police will eventually tie the murders to him. While he is looking in the mirror, he pulls some of his hairs off the shoulder of his jacket and puts them in an envelope on which he writes 'FERRiN'.
Suddenly, Jane is found dead by a blow to the back of the head. The police suspect Doug, but Vann is worried that the increased scrutiny from another murder will lead the police to him. During a date with Ferrin, he tries to initiate sex with her by beating her. She is terrified, and Vann is mortified.
The next day, Vann is seen playing the piano - the tune "Aint We Got Fun" - and Doug starts singing and dancing around the room. Suddenly, the police knock on the door and arrest Doug for the murder of Jane. Vann packs his things. Before he leaves town, he puts his postal uniform and the envelope with Ferrin's hair sample in a mailbox. The film ends as he drives on the highway, pursued by the same cop who stopped him on the beach. After taking a good look at him with her spotlight, she smiles at him and takes the right fork in the road while Vann takes the left. In a voice over monologue prior to this scene, Vann vows to stop killing whenever he gets where he is going. However, Vann explains that he does not know where he is going.
Reception
The film has a 61% freshness rating on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
called it "a psychological thriller of uncommon power maybe because it's so quiet and devious". In the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, Kevin Thomas wrote "it is above all such an unsettling experience you find yourself still taking it all in well after the lights have gone up".
In praising the film, Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris is an American film critic and a leading proponent of the auteur theory of criticism.-Career:Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the U.S...
writing for the New York Observer
New York Observer
The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
said, "A surging undercurrent of black comedy drives us out to sea without ever breaking to the surface with glib psychological or sociological explanations. We cannot laugh out loud, nor can we feel any grief." Sarris singles out Garofalo's performance as "incandescent...one of the most enticingly endearing female movie characters in recent years-witty, bubbly, but at the same time lonely and terrified of rejection." Glenn Lovell described the film as "an assured blend of Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
and Hitch's
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
small-town classic, Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt
Shadow of a Doubt is a 1943 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson, and Alma Reville, the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Story for Gordon McDonell...
." in his Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
review.
The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
.
Marketing
The Minus Man is notable for being one of the only films to feature promotional materials focusing on the film's ability to spark discussion among audience members. In addition to the tagline "Don't see it alone. Unless you like talking to yourself," one trailer for the film showed a couple discussing the film as they leave the theater. Their conversation takes them from place to place all over the city, until the man marvels at how beautiful the sunrise is. The woman realizes she is late for work and rushes to her job as a lifeguard, where two people are floating dead in the pool. The ad ends with the tagline "Careful, you can talk about it for hours."The main trailer featured the tagline, "When he's around nothing adds up" and touted the film as the product of "the producers of Sling Blade
Sling Blade
Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. It tells the story of a mentally impaired man named Karl Childers who is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother...
" and "the writer of Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
".
Cast
- Owen WilsonOwen WilsonOwen Cunningham Wilson is an American actor and writer, known for his roles in the films The Haunting, The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Meet the Parents, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, Bottle Rocket, the Cars series, The Darjeeling Limited, Marley & Me, Midnight in Paris, Shanghai Noon,...
.... Vann Siegert - Sheryl CrowSheryl CrowSheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
.... Laurie Bloom - Dwight YoakamDwight YoakamDwight David Yoakam is an American singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music...
.... Detective Blair - Dennis HaysbertDennis HaysbertDennis Dexter Haysbert is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying baseball player Pedro Cerrano in the Major League film trilogy, President David Palmer on the American television series 24, and Sergeant Major Jonas Blane on the drama series The Unit, as well as his work...
.... Detective Graves - Alex Warren .... State Trooper
- Mercedes RuehlMercedes RuehlMercedes J. Ruehl is an American theater, television and film actor.-Personal life:Ruehl was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, the daughter of Mercedes J., a school teacher, and Vincent Ruehl, an FBI agent. She was raised Catholic. Her father was of German and Irish descent and her...
.... Jane Durwin - Brian Cox .... Doug Durwin
- Janeane GarofaloJaneane GarofaloJaneane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
.... Ferrin - Meg FosterMeg FosterMegan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...
.... Irene - John VargasJohn VargasJohn Vargas is an American actor best known for his role in the films Primary Colors and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan.-Early life:John Vargas was born in the Bronx, New York and moved to Puerto Rico when his father was killed in Vietnam. He was accepted into the Air Force Academy upon finishing...
.... Priest