The screenplay is so dull, the actors just can't make it worthwile. Holly Hunter has a far bigger acting spectrum than what this role asks of her. Sigourney Weaver gets some great moments and fails in others for the weak script. But the worst are the antagonists, who are mostly not more than stereotypical creeps. As a post-"Silence of the Lambs"-movie, that's just not acceptable, neither of these dumb villains could hold a candle to the terrifying Hannibal Lecter. While the screenplay obviously took that classic as a reference, it fails to capture the essence of what made it good.What really makes the movie unbearable though are the campy mid-1990 details. The gay couple is cartoonishly gay. The detectives treat the policemen hillariously like children. And the portrayal of computers aren't handled authentically in any way, shape or form. What would be okay in a screwball comedy is killing the atmosphere in this wannabe-serious police thriller.Watch it if you're really bored.

Dr Helen Hudson is an expert in serial killers and lectured on the subject until one day she nearly became a victim herself. Thirteen months later and she is agoraphobic; never leaving her home in San Francisco. Now another serial killer is operating in the city and M.J. Monahan and her partner Reuben Goetz are leading the investigation to catch him. Hudson contacts the police anonymously because she believes the killer is imitating the crimes of the Boston Strangler. Monahan quickly figures out who contacted them and soon Hudson is pulled, somewhat unwillingly, into the investigation. The killer sends a video clip to Hudson which she believes is his next victim; sure enough there is another murder but the MO is completely different. This should indicate a different killer as serial killers don't change their methods but something is different here; the killer has just copied a different killer, or in this case pair of killers. The killings continue, with other killers being copied until ultimately Hudson is targeted in a recreation of the previous attempt on her life.After 'The Silence of the Lambs' serial killer films were the flavour of the moment. This is a solid enough example of the genre; not one of the best but certainly not one of the worst. The story gets off to a good start and having a main killer who copies others was interesting. Unfortunately the sense of mystery is somewhat reduced as we are shown the killer fairly early on; once we've seen his face it is just a question of who he will copy him next and how the cops will ultimately stop him. Apart from Monahan the police are depicted as fairly incompetent; the officer posted outside Hudson's door is easily lured away and another leaves his gun in an unlocked drawer near a suspect with tragic consequences. Solid lead performances from Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter raise the quality of the production from something fairly routine to make it well worth watching if you are a fan of the genre.

Jon Amiel's Copycat is one intense piece of work, as tightly wound as razor wire and primed to stir up the adrenal glands. Sigourney Weaver contends with not one, but two extremely vicious serial killers a lá Silence Of The Lambs, with a bit of ass kicking help from spitfire Holly Hunter. Weaver is a clinical psychologist specializing in serial killers, and like most in her cinematic profession, just happens to be a serial killer magnet as well. After narrowly escaping a perverted maniac (Harry Connick Jr.), and assisting in his capture, she retreats to the sanctuary of her San Francisco penthouse apartment in a fit of agoraphobia following the trauma. But there's another killer out there, one who meticulously recreates the crimes of others. Weaver is reluctantly coerced into helping to find him, and who better to help her than her old buddy Connick Jr.? He's an odd choice to play this type of character, but he sells it with a sickly swagger and that off kilter grin, a much more lively performance than that of the actor playing the copycat killer. Holly Hunter provides the kick in the ass that timid Weaver needs to see the job done, but there's danger around every corner, and the film earns it's hard R rating with some truly uncomfortable bits. Along for the ride is veteran actor J.E. Freeman, Will Patton and good old Dermot Mulroney as fellow cops on the case. Not as instantly iconic or memorable as many in the genre, but takes what could have easily been generic trash and gives it life, style and a sense of real, sweaty danger.

This isn't actually a terrible film by any stretch of the imagination; it's just one of those films which loses focus and is never quite sure what it wants to be.Basic outline - Sigourney Weaver plays a serial killer expert, haunted by her past, who is roped in by the police to guide them towards a serial killer operating in the city. The murderer is copying the M.O. of famous serial killers from the sixties, seventies and eighties.The problem is that even though it is ostensibly - as its title suggests - a film about Copycat killers, it feels somewhat lightweight in the amount of 'copycatting' - it feels like a tame half-baked plot line, which is more focused on Sigourney Weaver's character's past horrors. The 'copycat' idea just feels so, so underplayed - the director doesn't really work off it, it's just a vaguely interesting aside by the final reel.However, it must be said, Sigourney Weaver acts her socks off - she really does play an excellent role as an agoraphobic suffering with a chronic (understandable) case of PTSD. Holly Hunter also plays her role with gusto.However, disappointingly, the perpetrator is 2d and meaningless; after the film spent the first 10, 20 minutes explaining that a serial killer can be 'just like you and me' they didn't then justify that at all, they just roped in a cartoon (overacted) nutter.Too much is 'stock' - there is quite a jarring, wasted death which feels put in for the sake of ticking that Hollywood plot box. Police guards are literally the most useless in any film, ever. The scenes of the internet in its infancy are quite endearing, but do date the film terribly.Yeah, overall, it just feels like a missed opportunity. It's hard to believe that this and the majestic 'Se7en' came out within a month of each other; one looks, feels and plays like mid-nineties Hollywood, the other is so much more.