Malcolm Anderson (Kurt Russell) and his girlfriend Christine (Mariel Hemingway) are small town folks at heart trapped in the big city of Miami. Malcolm works for the Miami Journal and his girlfriend is a grade school teacher. Christine is desperate for a split from Miami whereas Malcolm, who also wants to leave, can't seem to make a clean break. His attempts to leave are further exacerbated by a killer who calls him personally to take credit for a recent murder.
This mysterious killer has simply said that this is number one and has informed Malcolm that he will kill others. Malcolm dives head first into this new story as this could be the story of a lifetime.
The movie instantly picked up when the killer involved Malcolm in his plans. At that point the game was on. I was prepared for the fox chase and the moves and counter moves.
Everything was shaping up nicely then the movie was dragged down by the banal and contrived drama between Malcolm and his girlfriend. Once Malcolm became heavily involved in the "numbers killer" case and story his girlfriend felt more and more ignored. I can't imagine that the case took more than a few months, yet his girlfriend was ready to throw away whatever they had already built together due to his obsession with his work a.k.a. this killer. It was the classic case of a man being immersed in his work and not having time for his family and/or significant other. But it seemed so vapid and ham-fisted that it just completely distracted from the overall movie.
There was one particular scene in which Christine had this somber and cathartic moment when she tells her boyfriend Malcolm that leaving is more or less a formality now. Like she had just been completely kicked to the curb and so totally abandoned emotionally that there was no way this relationship could continue. She did not even considering or take it into account that this was just a story and all stories have an ending. Malcolm had been a journalist for eight years and this was a story that could make his career, so was he supposed to wholly discard this part of his nature and this part of his being because his girlfriend felt emotionally neglected?
The movie was clearly trying to paint him as a thrill seeking reporter and someone who is just so involved and so selfish that he would neglect any and all other duties in exclusion to his duty of journalist. But the way they painted this picture was sophomoric and clumsy to the point it made Christine come off as a whiny sniveling brat. Her complaints, tirades, and petulance was especially off-putting considering that there were no hints or signs of any kind of discord between them before Malcolm landed this story of a lifetime.
Had we witnessed some sort of discontent and disconnect between the two before the story came along and then the story was the straw to break the camels back-- then it would've all made sense. But that's not what happened. They literally went from the ideal lovey-dovey couple to the brink of total separation, and back to being reunited -- of course- - once he'd saved her life, the killer was dead, and the story was no more.
I thought that entire saga struck a heavy blow to the overall movie. Should they have eschewed that side story/distraction, then The Mean Season could've been on the level of maybe "Seven" or "Silence of the Lambs" or other killer- hunt movies that are considered epics.
This mysterious killer has simply said that this is number one and has informed Malcolm that he will kill others. Malcolm dives head first into this new story as this could be the story of a lifetime.
The movie instantly picked up when the killer involved Malcolm in his plans. At that point the game was on. I was prepared for the fox chase and the moves and counter moves.
Everything was shaping up nicely then the movie was dragged down by the banal and contrived drama between Malcolm and his girlfriend. Once Malcolm became heavily involved in the "numbers killer" case and story his girlfriend felt more and more ignored. I can't imagine that the case took more than a few months, yet his girlfriend was ready to throw away whatever they had already built together due to his obsession with his work a.k.a. this killer. It was the classic case of a man being immersed in his work and not having time for his family and/or significant other. But it seemed so vapid and ham-fisted that it just completely distracted from the overall movie.
There was one particular scene in which Christine had this somber and cathartic moment when she tells her boyfriend Malcolm that leaving is more or less a formality now. Like she had just been completely kicked to the curb and so totally abandoned emotionally that there was no way this relationship could continue. She did not even considering or take it into account that this was just a story and all stories have an ending. Malcolm had been a journalist for eight years and this was a story that could make his career, so was he supposed to wholly discard this part of his nature and this part of his being because his girlfriend felt emotionally neglected?
The movie was clearly trying to paint him as a thrill seeking reporter and someone who is just so involved and so selfish that he would neglect any and all other duties in exclusion to his duty of journalist. But the way they painted this picture was sophomoric and clumsy to the point it made Christine come off as a whiny sniveling brat. Her complaints, tirades, and petulance was especially off-putting considering that there were no hints or signs of any kind of discord between them before Malcolm landed this story of a lifetime.
Had we witnessed some sort of discontent and disconnect between the two before the story came along and then the story was the straw to break the camels back-- then it would've all made sense. But that's not what happened. They literally went from the ideal lovey-dovey couple to the brink of total separation, and back to being reunited -- of course- - once he'd saved her life, the killer was dead, and the story was no more.
I thought that entire saga struck a heavy blow to the overall movie. Should they have eschewed that side story/distraction, then The Mean Season could've been on the level of maybe "Seven" or "Silence of the Lambs" or other killer- hunt movies that are considered epics.