Under the lens takes a deep look at films by focusing in on one or two particular areas of the picture that helped to define it for better or for worse.
The January Man is a 1989 comedy thriller directed by Pat O’Conner and stars Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Alan Rickman. It follows a brilliant Police Detective who two years after being forced out of the NYPD, is called back and rehired by the mayor to catch a serial killer after the 11th murder of a woman.
Under The Lens: Mystery and Bait and Switch
Depth of Mystery: The idea of police mystery comedies is an old one, in fact, it’s one that is used a lot in cinema. Often these pictures cast a famed comic actor and thrust them into a mystery plot, however, the mystery itself often takes a backseat to the comedy. With the banter and antics of the detective taking center stage in the plot.
The January Man is unusual in that it feels often the total opposite, its comedy is spaced out and delivers more as one-two punches of atmospheric comedy than laugh out loud antics. In fact, The January Man has a well thought out mystery at its core, and its writers put a lot of effort in writing out not only the motive for the murders but how they are solved. Klines detective’s brilliance is not only spoken about but shown to us!
In the end I was fully satisfied with the mystery as well as the comedy in this picture!
Bait and Switch: As stated above most comedy-mystery pictures don’t put that much effort into the mystery aspect of the plot. Now the mystery aspect has been discussed above, however, the picture does something many others in this genre do not, the “bait and switch” the picture spends time giving us multiple characters and their motivations, and teases us that they may be the killer.
Is it the police commissioner who clearly has an issue with his dead mother? Is it Ed the reclusive painter who spends his time painting naked women? Is it the Police Captain who is violently opposed to Nicks’s return as a lead investigator? The bait and switch is even carried to the VERY end as the murderer has shoe polish on his face and a wig on, and the angles refuse to show us his face, even characters’ locations at the climax are kept secret. Which then makes the killer’s identity when revealed even more of a genre subversion.
Highlights
Alan Rickman gives an understated performance as Ed, Nicks’s painter friend.
Kevin Kline and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio have great chemistry together
The climax is a great blend of comedy and tension
Quotable Quote
Nick Starkey: I told you to stop that! You’re not gettin’ away, why don’t you just f**kin’ accept it?
Something to think about
Have you ever like Nick fallen in love with someone who you were not supposed to? How did you handle it?
Conclusion
Overall The January Man, is a good picture, though one that can never fully figure out if it wants to be a mystery thriller or a comedy thriller, and at times it can feel like the comedy aspect is getting lost. That being said the comedy it does have hits hard, fast, and is very funny, and its well-developed crime plot will keep viewers interested and watching till the end.
It features good performances by Kevin Kline, Alan Rickman, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Klines Detective characters feels lived in, and one never asks the question “How could someone like him ever become a police officer.” The January Man is a mostly forgotten comedy-thriller, but it’s a good one, anchored by a solid mystery and a string of “Before they were famous” actors its a motion picture worth revisiting.