Copycat (1995)

Directed by John Amiel. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Holly Hunter, Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, Will Patton, J. E. Freeman, Harry Connick Jr., John Rothman. [R]

Agoraphobic criminal psychologist Weaver, an expert in her field whose condition was the result of surviving a brutal attack a year ago, reluctantly agrees to assist detectives Hunter and Mulroney in their pursuit of a “copycat” serial killer who stages the murders as imitations of ones perpetrated by the likes of the Boston Strangler, Son of Sam, etc. Amiel’s dutiful dedication to suspense clichés does no favors for Ann Biderman and David Madsen’s overly contrived script, resulting in a wildly uneven thriller. That erratic success rate extends to the performers, which includes the odd casting of pop crooner Connick Jr. as a skeevy psycho with bad skin and worse teeth, but also the appreciably left-of-center work from Hunter, the film’s most intriguing puzzle piece (far more so than the tiresome preppy villain). Had the misfortune of being released only a month after another serial-murderer-making-a-statement thriller, the far superior Seven.

66/100