Movie studios don’t often make grown-up thrillers anymore, at least not ones without heightened genre elements, and certainly not with two female leads. Thankfully, movies like Jon Amiel’s 1995 film Copycatstill exist — as long as you hurry over to Netflix to watch it before it leaves the service on October 15. The movie stars Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver and Oscar winner Holly Hunter as they investigate a serial killer, and despite coming out less than a month after David Fincher’s Seven (a movie that could’ve rightfully closed the proverbial notebook on the “two people chase a serial killer” genre forever), the movie was a hit with critics and is still sitting at a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Of course, given the fact that it’s told from the perspective of two women, the more obvious point of comparison for Copycat is Jonathan Demme’s The Silence of the Lambs. That movie won a bunch of Academy Awards, so it’s an even tougher comparison for Copycat, but Silence of the Lambs (like Seven)is also closer to a horror movie than Copycat is. And nobody’s going to forget that Seven and Silence of the Lambs exist, but this is one of those movies that looks stronger and stronger as time goes on, simply because it’s harder to find something on its level now. You shouldn’t take it for granted, and also you better get to Netflix because it’s leaving soon.
What Is ‘Copycat’ About?
In Copycat, Weaver plays a renowned criminal psychologist named Dr. Helen Hudson who is attacked by a man (Harry Connick Jr., who used to make movies like this) during one of her lectures. She then develops a severe case of agoraphobia and is unable to leave her home until a new serial killer who is basing his attacks on famous murderers starts stalking her. A detective named M.J. Monahan (Holly Hunter) gets involved, and the pair team up to track down the — ahem — Copycat killer. The movie also stars Dermot Mulroney, William McNamara, J.E. Freeman, and Will Patton, which is a nice collection of “hey, I know that guy” actors from the ‘90s and 2000s.
Back in the day, iconic film critic Roger Ebert had pretty positive things to say about Copycat, particularly regarding the performances of its two leads. He said that Hunter’s M.J. is “the most interesting character in the film,” which is big for a movie with a serial killer who has an ethos, and he really appreciated the way she could hold a room by being “so small and forcible” (especially in comparison to Weaver’s character, who is “so large and timid”). Ebert’s review also teased some of the gender politics that are quietly at play in Copycat, which is arguably handled a little more subtly and cleverly here than the heavy-handed treatment in Silence of the Lambs. Not that this is better than that movie, because it’s not, but for a movie that was well-received by critics and has a solid reputation 20 years later, it still feels like a solidly underrated thriller.
- Release Date
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October 27, 1995
- Runtime
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123 Minutes
- Director
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Jon Amiel
- Writers
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Ann Biderman, David Madsen
