Sibling Rivalry Goes Ballistic In ‘Minnesota’

Competition between brothers is carried to ridiculous extremes in “Feeling Minnesota,” a half-jokey, half-ugly crime movie from a Quentin Tarantino-wannabe, writer-director Steven Baigelman.

Set in Minnesota (where else?), this derivative film features siblings named Sam and Jjaks. No, that second name isn’t a typo. Or rather, it was a typo on Jjaks’ birth certificate that somehow has stuck with him.

Among the many examples of the intense rivalry between these guys is the scene in which Jjaks (Keanu Reeves) has sex with Sam’s bride-to-be on her wedding day.

Later, Sam (Vincent D’Onofrio) bites off part of Jjaks’ ear - which, ever since the big ear scene in Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), has been the sort of thing that Tarantino-wannabes seem compelled to include in their films. (This ear stuff may actually go back to the severed ear in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” of 1986, but that’s another story.)

Feeling Minnesota was coproduced by Danny DeVito, who also worked behind the scenes on Tartantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994). The supporting cast includes Delroy Lindo (“Get Shorty”) as a gangster, Tuesday Weld as Sam’s and Jjaks’s nasty mom, Dan Aykroyd as a cop and Cameron Diaz (“The Mask”) in a too-good-for-this-movie performance as the woman the brothers share.

And, oh yes, our old buddy Courtney Love pops up as a waitress in a diner. She has about a dozen lines and somehow manages not to mosh.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “FEELING MINNESOTA” Locations: North Division cinemas Credits: Written and directed by Steven Baigelman, starring Keanu Reeves, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cameron Diaz, Dan Aykroyd Running time: 1:35 Rating: R