Word: copycatting
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...that is mainly on the independent scene, where nobody's betting real money. In the films most people see, gays are still crippled in some way. Tom Hanks can be the good, dying gay man in Philadelphia--but no passionate kiss for your boyfriend, please. In the thriller Copycat, the gay character is not the serial killer, he is the heroine's best friend--but he still gets murdered. And gay baiting is still acceptable; "faggot" remains the epithet du jour of movie machismo. In Mel Gibson's Braveheart, early line favorite for the top Oscars, the English prince...
...copycat spectacle was gratifying to Forbes, who especially savored Dole's dilemma when the majority leader stood before the cameras as Kemp laid out a dozen principles for changing the tax code. "He clearly wanted out of there as quickly as possible," Forbes observed. "He wasn't comfortable. I think he's never been one for major ideas, especially on the tax side." Editor that he is, Forbes even writes his opponent's script for him. "He could have said, 'In 30 years, I've seen what a monstrosity this system is. I may even have contributed to the monstrosity...
...movies. To judge from Hollywood's fall fad, folks can't go to bed or step into a shower or visit a ladies' room without bumping into an evil genius who has exotic plans for kitchen cutlery. With Seven, Never Talk to Strangers and now Copycat, serial-killer thrillers are as thick and windy as Republican candidates in New Hampshire...
...Copycat, directed by Jon Amiel (The Singing Detective, Sommersby), means to be a Greatest Hits album of atrocities. Its murderer has eyes to replicate the artistry of such superstar psychos as Son of Sam, Jeffrey Dahmer, the Boston and Hillside Stranglers--that crowd. His pursuer is a crafty cop (Holly Hunter). His nemesis is a psychologist (Sigourney Weaver) who studies the serial killer's mentality. And his hero is a recently arrested multiple murderer (cleverly played by saloon crooner Harry Connick Jr. as if he were a more deranged cousin of Jim Varney's goony Ernest character...
Screenwriters Ann Biderman and David Madsen are copycats too, primarily of Thomas Harris' terrific novels Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. Copycat is also faithful to other melodramatic conventions. The sympathetic gay friend will be killed. The brilliant schemer will go implausibly stupid at the climax. And the filmmakers will forget what Harris knows: that there is great horror and pathos inside these creatures. A sick mind is a terrible thing to waste...