September 9, 1999
Web posted at: 1:08 p.m. EDT (1708 GMT)

By Reviewer Paul Clinton

(CNN) -- "The Minus Man" is a spooky little film that attempts to explore the nature of evil. It's also the directorial debut for 60-year-old Hampton Fancher, who co-wrote the screenplay for "Blade Runner," in 1982.

Owen Wilson, seen in this summer's "The Haunting," stars here as Vann Siegert, a mild-mannered drifter who suddenly appears in a quiet seaside town. Vann appears to be the nicest guy you could meet. He has one minor flaw. He's a serial killer. Hey, nobody's perfect.

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Clip: "Making a pie out of pickles" 1.1Mb QuickTime movie Clip: "Delivering the mail" 1.6Mb QuickTime movie

Vann rents a room from from a husband and his wife who are hiding secrets of their own. British actor Brian Cox plays Doug. (He originated the role of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Michael Mann's "Manhunter," in 1986, a film antecedent to 1991's "Silence of the Lambs.") In this film, he's a man with complex problems, the main one being he's a masochist -- every once in a while he just beats his head against a wall, or slaps himself repeatedly. How this enhances the story is unclear.

Mercedes Ruehl (who won an Academy Award in 1991 for best supporting actress in "The Fisher King"), plays his world-weary wife Jane.

Doug gets Vann a job at the local post office where he begins dating a shy young woman named Ferrin, played by Janeane Garofalo, an actress known for her work in independent films. So far, Garofalo has been able to display only a limited range in her acting, but she still manages to get better with each role.

Vann isn't really a bad guy. He just occasionally does bad things. Things like randomly poisoning people. As residents begin disappearing, the rest of the town starts turning to Vann for answers. But all they get from him are more questions. He's the evil among them; all they see is what they want to see. He's a blank page. A "minus man."

Along the way, he has several strange and surreal dialogues with two homicide detectives who live in his imagination. Their conversations supposedly move the narrative along like a strange Greek chorus. They're played by Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert.

"The Minus Man" is a tender story about a polite, psychopathic serial killer who falls in love and tries to get in touch with his inner self. It's supposed to be about what lies under a surface of normality. What happens when evil has no explanation, no consequences or complications?

The result is a slow and uneven story with a certain dreamlike quality. The filmmakers apparently couldn't make up their minds as to whether they were making a dark comedy or a psychological thriller.

Garofalo holds the screen every time she appears. Wilson, with his nasal Texan twang, continues to practice his passive style of acting. His real-life girlfriend-singer Sheryl Crow makes her film debut playing a junkie. Note to Crow's fans: She's only in the film for about five minutes; and no, she doesn't sing, not even on the soundtrack.

"The Minus Man" is not your typical high-concept, cookie-cutter Hollywood film, which is a plus. But it also never really seems to make any point about anything, at any time.

"The Minus Man" opens nationwide on Friday and is rated R with a running time of 112 minutes.