In most movies, I have nothing against gratuitous violence. Sometimes, such a trait makes a movie better - “Get Shorty” and “Pulp Fiction” are prime examples - but in “Feeling Minnesota” it made the movie drastically worse.
“Minnesota” seems to be centered around a romance between Jjaks (Keanu Reeves) and Freddie (Cameron Diaz), who is supposed to be getting married to Jjaks’s brother (Vincent D’Onofrio). With talented actors like those two, such a film has promise.
Every once in a while, though, the movie randomly focuses on arguments between Jjaks and his brother, which instead of much-needed character development, turn into gratuitously bloody fights that have little effect on the rest of the film.
What is most disappointing about “Feeling Minnesota” is that it could’ve been successful either way, but chose not to decide between the two. Reeves and D’Onofrio could’ve done a great film about a love-hate relationship between two brothers, and Reeves and Diaz might’ve have been successful portraying a dysfunctional romance.
But not both. “Minnesota” ends up looking like a pathetic clone of “Fargo” - a film based on its quirky and bizarre humor - without the quirky and bizarre humor.
While the three excellent main actors of the film (Reeves, Diaz, and D’Onofrio) are merely victimized by poor direction, the supporting cast is awful on its own. Delroy Lindo and Dan Akyroyd, usually reliable as at least diversions from a bad film if not additions to a good one, detract from the film playing caricatures of real-life in a movie that might’ve succeeded with its realism.
While I can wax eloquent about why “Feeling Minnesota” was such a bad movie, it comes down to one thing: I walked away from the theater wondering why I had wasted my time watching it. There was nothing to be gained from this movie, and the few awkward chuckles were more at the movie that with it.
It’s too bad that such talent was wasted on this film. Keanu Reeves proved that he can be a great romantic actor in “A Walk in the Clouds” and Cameron Diaz showed that she could be quite an presence in “The Mask.” But in “Feeling Minnesota,” director Steven Baigleman only proved that he could make a bad movie.
Grade: D-