Review of January Man, The

Introduction

The ingredients for this film all look good on paper. Written by John Patrick Shanley (oscar winner for Moonstruck), and with an array of big names on-board (Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Harvey Keitel, Rod Steiger and Alan Rickman). Having the right ingredients isn`t the key though, it`s following the recipe to make sure that it all blends together nicely. Did they get this blend right?

See if you can work it out by simply reading the plot details and summary up above....

Video

We get a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, which is not bad given the age of the print, and the "status" of the film itself (i.e. it`s not an A list back catalogue title). Detail levels are reasonable and there`s not too much print damage, apart from the odd lines that crop up now and again. Colours are quite gloomy, but this is largely intentional, as the film is set in the city in winter. There`s a bit of grain creeping around now and again, but overall it`s pretty good.

Audio

A DD2.0 soundtrack is included, which is functional and little else. You can hear everything that happens, and you can hear the rather naff soundtrack, complete with some nasty late 1980s songs. Pretty much as expected given the status of the film. You can also choose from French, Italian, German and Spanish soundtracks.

Features

Just a trailer which tries to make the film look watchable.

Conclusion

This film is a total mess. Just looking at the blurb should be enough to give you hints about this. "The January Man is a killer comedy" - no, it`s supposedly a comedy about a serial killer - a subject that you could really mess up if you got the balance wrong. "Wildly entertaining murder mystery" - not really, since there`s very little mystery.

It`s neither thriller nor comedy, just a sloppy mess which tries to be both. Kline handles the comedy parts of his character well (including some mildly amusing slapstick), but the rest of the character doesn`t add up. Steiger just ends up shouting all the time, Keitel is just hovering in the background and even Rickman can`t bring much fun to his eccentric painter character. This film is just plain bad, the plot is nonsense, the script is terrible and even the vast array of big names can`t save it.

The disc itself is fine technically, but I can`t see you wanting to buy it anyway. The only people who might even be vaguely interested are hardcore Kevin Kline fans (if such things exist). And even then it`s only worth a rental. Avoid.