Feeling Minnesota

Feeling Minnesota is a 1996 American crime drama comedy film written and directed by Steven Baigelman and starring Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Tuesday Weld, Dan Aykroyd, and Delroy Lindo.

Feeling Minnesota
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySteven Baigelman
Produced byDanny DeVito
Michael Shamberg
Stacey Sher
Written bySteven Baigelman
Starring
Music byLos Lobos
CinematographyWalt Lloyd
Edited by
  • Kristen Helsing
  • Martin Walsh
  • Thom Noble
Production
company
Distributed byFine Line Features
Release date
  • September 13, 1996 (1996-09-13)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$3,124,440

The title comes from the 1991 Soundgarden song "Outshined", which features the line "I'm looking California, and feeling Minnesota". The band is not on the soundtrack.

Plot

Freddie (Cameron Diaz) is a former stripper marrying Sam (Vincent D'Onofrio) to repay a debt owed to nightclub owner Red (Delroy Lindo). When Freddie meets Jjaks (Keanu Reeves), Sam's brother, they instantly fall in love. Jjaks and Freddie decide to run off together, eventually staying in a motel. After realizing that they do not have any money, Freddie and Jjaks decide to go back and steal some of Sam's money. Sam catches Jjaks in the act and they have a fight. After escaping, Jjaks returns to the motel, unaware that Sam has been following him. After Jjaks passes out due to the fight, Sam ends up shooting Freddie in the stomach in Jjak's car, and tries to frame the killing on Jjaks by returning Freddie's body to the motel room along with the murder weapon.

The next morning, Jjaks awakens having no memory of anything that happened after his fight with Sam. Seeing Freddie's body in the room along with the gun, he briefly thinks that maybe he killed Freddie. After being tipped off by Sam, the police arrive but Jjaks hastily avoids being caught. He drives Freddie's body to a remote area in the woods to lay her to rest. All the while, Sam has been watching these events from afar, hoping to see his brother arrested.

Sam now calls a friend, Detective Ben Costikyan (Dan Aykroyd), who promptly arrests Jjaks. The three of them, along with Ben's partner Lloyd (David Alan Smith), drive to the area where supposedly Freddie's body is. However upon arrival Freddie is nowhere to be found. Angered at Sam for wasting his time, Costikyan, along with Lloyd, drive off, leaving the brothers by the side of the road.

Jjaks and Sam return home. They receive a phone call from the manager of the motel (Michael Rispoli), who, based on seeing Sam carrying Freddie's body INTO the motel room and Jjaks carrying the body OUT OF the motel room, wants $50,000 to keep quiet. Jjaks now realizes that Sam was setting him up for Freddie's murder. After another fight, they come up with a plan: Jjaks will go to the motel to talk to the manager while Sam will see Red, hoping for a loan.

At this point, Red has learned that Sam's been stealing money from him for the past year. Sam ends up shooting and killing Red after a brief skirmish and collects the $50,000 from a safe. Jjaks meets with the motel manager but sees Freddie's necklace on the floor of the manager's apartment. Confused and angry, Jjaks throws the manager outside and threatens to kill him. Suddenly out of nowhere, an alive Freddie walks towards them, calling out Jjaks' name. Jjaks faints. When he revives, she shows Jjaks her bullet wound and tells him that Sam's a bad shot. Also, someone picked her up from the side of the road where he had left her body.

The next morning Sam calls Jjaks and tells him he got the money. However, after seeing Freddie alive from a nearby diner, he confronts Jjaks and Freddie in the manager's apartment. Sam ends up getting shot when Jjaks and Freddie try to defend themselves. Costikyan enters the hotel room and suffocates Sam by holding his hand against his mouth. It turns out that Freddie had called Costikyan after being rescued and used him to help her get the $50,000. A betrayed and wounded Jjaks is left helpless.

Some time later, Costikyan is arrested in his underwear inside a hotel. Freddie had tipped off the cops and left with the money. Jjaks and Freddie have since had a falling out, however Jjaks remembers Freddie's dream: that she wants to live in Las Vegas and be a dancer. He hitchhikes there and finds her living her dream. When he finds her she says, with a smile: "what took you fucking so long?" They embrace each other.

Cast

Reception

As of November 2017, Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 14% based on 21 reviews.[1] However, Siskel & Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up."[2]

Soundtrack
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]

The film's soundtrack was released in August 1996 through Atlantic Records. The album received a mixed review from AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, ending his review with "the overall effect of the whole Feeling Minnesota juggernaut can't help but make you feel a little 'sick.' "

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)ArtistLength
1."Ring of Fire" (Johnny Cash cover)June Carter Cash, Merle KilgoreBob Dylan4:20
2."Shakey Ground"Jeffrey Bowen, Al Boyd, Eddie HazelThe Temptations4:02
3."Disagreeable"Page HamiltonHelmet3:45
4."Safe with Me"Joe HenryJoe Henry5:19
5."In My Mind"Jonny PolonskyJonny Polonsky4:17
6."I Will Dare"Paul WesterbergThe Replacements3:17
7."How Does That Grab You, Darlin?"Lee HazlewoodNancy Sinatra2:34
8."Blasting Fonda"Jeff TweedyWilco4:17
9."You Can Have Her"William S. CookThe Righteous Brothers2:47
10."Family Affair"Sylvester StewartSpearhead4:01
11."Looking at the World Through a Windshield"Jerry Chestnut, Mike HoyerSon Volt3:08
12."Minnesota Medley" Los Lobos3:46
Total length:45:33

References
  1. "Feeling Minnesota". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2015-12-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Feeling Minnesota - Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
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