Double Feature

July 2009 - Nothing spices up a lazy, hazy summer night like a top-notch flick about serial killers. Unfortunately, neither of the following two films fits the bill. Watch at your own risk.

First is Copycat, with Holly Hunter and Sigourney Weaver. Harry Connick Jr., William McNamara and Dermot Mulroney also star in this 1995 R-rated drama about the hunt for a serial killer on the streets of San Francisco.

Weaver plays Helen Hudson, an expert on serial killers. After a lecture at a college in San Francisco, she is attacked in the ladies' room by a degenerate named Daryll Lee Cullum (Connick with bad teeth and a bad dye job). Hudson survives, but becomes an agoraphobic, brandy-drinking, pill-popping recluse.

She reaches out to the police when it appears that a serial killer has surfaced in the city. Hunter and Mulroney work the case and pay a visit to Hudson's pad to get some insight. It seems that the killer is copying murders committed by infamous serial killers of the past. All they have to do now is figure out who he is and find him.

Overall review: Ehhh, it was OK. The scenes concerning the serial killer case are adequate. But, there is another storyline that doesn't seem to make much sense. And, at one point, Weaver's character flirts with Mulroney's cop! Not exactly what you'd expect from someone who's so affected by her attack (by a man) that she's constantly medicated and hasn't left her apartment in a year.

Even so, Copycat is slightly more interesting than 88 Minutes, an R-rated thriller from 2007. In this film, Al Pacino has 88 minutes to solve his own potential murder or face becoming the next victim of a serial killer. Alicia Witt, Amy Brenneman and Leelee Sobieski co-star. Neal McDonough, who recently played the creepy, vengeful neighbor on Desperate Housewives, plays the creepy, vengeful serial killer.

Pacino is Jack Gramm, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at a university in Seattle and consults for the FBI on the side. Several years ago, he gave key testimony that led to a death sentence for serial rapist and killer Jon Forster (McDonough). As the movie opens, Forster's execution is set to be carried out, but the discovery of another murder that fits his M.O. casts doubt on his guilt and on Gramm's testimony. Gramm then receives a call from a disguised voice telling him that he has 88 minutes to live. Tick tock, Doc.

Overall review: Ehhh, it was OK. For a movie that you expect might move along at a frenetic pace, it felt rather slow. Maybe that’s because Pacino's character never really acts as though his life is in danger. For a guy who may have only 88 minutes to live, he is remarkably calm. The only ones who seem really freaked out by the situation are Gramm's teaching assistant (Witt) and his secretary (Brenneman).

One other thing. The film's title may be 88 Minutes, but the actual running time is 108 minutes. Tick tock, Doc.