Feeling Minnesota (1996)

An ex-convict and his bumbling crook brother fight for the same woman.

Director:

Steven Baigelman

Writer:

Steven Baigelman

Stars:

Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cameron Diaz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keanu Reeves	...	Jjaks Clayton
Cameron Diaz	...	Freddie Clayton
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Sam Clayton
Delroy Lindo	...	Red
Dan Aykroyd	...	Det. Ben Costikyan
Courtney Love	...	Rhonda the Waitress
Drew Desmarais	...	Young Jjaks Clayton
Tuesday Weld	...	Nora Clayton
Aaron Michael Metchik	...	Young Sam Clayton
Russell Konstans	...	Joseph
David Alan Smith	...	Detective Lloyd
Bill Schoppert	...	Minister
Steve Ghizoni	...	Wedding Band Singer
Jack Walsh	...	Bob, at Gas Station
Buffy Sedlachek	...	Gas Station Attendant

Storyline

Freddie is a former stripper marrying Sam to repay a debt owed to nightclub owner Red. But Freddie is in love with Jjaks, Sam's brother. Jjaks and Freddie run off together, and Sam finds where they have been hiding and calls the cops. Meanwhile someone calls to blackmail Sam and Jjaks. In the end will it all work out?

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Plot Keywords:

las vegas nevada | elopement | motel | framed for murder | presumed dead | 

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Taglines:

Just when she met the man of her dreams, along came her husband to ruin everything.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, sexuality and language

Details

Official Sites:

Fine Line Features

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 September 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Mulher do Meu Irmão

Filming Locations:

Warner Road, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,598,051, 15 September 1996, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$3,102,672, 6 October 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fine Line Features, Jersey Films, Minnesota U.S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Feeling Minnesota's title was inspired by some lyrics in the Soundgarden song 'Outshined': "I just looked in the mirror/And things ain't looking so good/I'm looking California/And feeling Minnesota". The band's lead singer and the song's composer, Chris Cornell, revealed to Blender magazine in 2005 that his lawyer told him that they could sue the filmmakers, but Cornell didn't want to be part of that, he was embarrassed about his song inspiring the film's title.

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Goofs

In the scene where Freddie and Jjaks are in the bathroom during the wedding, they are standing in front of the mirror talking and her dress keeps moving on and off her shoulders during the whole scene.

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Quotes

Man on Phone: Life is one big emergency, man, so fuck off
[calmly raises middle finger to Sam]

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Connections

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Soundtracks

I Want to Know Love Is
Written by Mick Jones
Performed by Los Lobos
Heard at the wedding

User Reviews

Road Movie Crash

Feeling Minnesota is not really a road movie, but that's still the best categorization I can generate. A road movie does not primarily depend on a great story line, and since the plot of this movie is truly pathetic, it does fulfil that description. To be interesting, such a movie must rely entirely on moving and intriguing characters, and on the chemistry between them. Unfortunately the staff of Feeling Minnesota fails utterly in producing this excitement.

The initializing presentation of the characters is unsatisfying and confusing; I can, for example, not figure out whether Jjaks (Keanu Reeves) did grow up in the house of his mother and brother or not. It is said, by his mother (Tuesday Weld), that he must live with his father, but nothing in the film suggests that it ever happens. The same goes for the rest of the characters - I never get to know them. They appear irrational, and no real explanation is given to why they do so.

The bottom line is that I leave the movie without any feelings for the characters, except dullness and perhaps a tiny kick of attraction for the cute Cameron Diaz.