Milwaukee, Minnesota

Milwaukee, Minnesota is such a thoroughly unpleasant and pointless movie, it’s impossible not to wonder what screenwriter Richard Murphy was trying to do. Is the film meant to operate as a portrait of loneliness and alienation? If so, why has Murphy populated the story with such unsympathetic characters? The film revolves around a mentally handicapped man named Albert (Troy Garity) who lives with his overbearing mother (Debra Monk), while working at a local photocopying store. A pair of swindlers passing through town, Tuey and Stan (Alison Folland and Hank Harris), learn that Albert has a good deal of money socked away, and plan to cozy up to the man to get at the cash. Milwaukee, Minnesota is filled with stereotypes – the sleazy salesman decked out in a ’70s brown leather jacket, the aging bar floozy, the domineering mother, etc – to the point where it becomes virtually impossible to care about a single character. Tuey is the most obvious example of this, a walking cliche that seems to exist only to have her cold heart melted by the Albert’s naivete and kindness. The one-dimensional nature of the characters is exacerbated by the terminally slow pace; director Allan Mindel admittedly does a nice job of establishing the mood of this small town, but it’s a moot point since the audience is given nothing to become involved with. A waste of time, really, but Josh Brolin’s inexplicable cameo as a lingerie-wearing thug has to be seen to be believed.

* out of ****