`MINUS MAN' NOT ALL THERE.

Byline: David Bloom Staff Writer

Vann Siegert (Owen Wilson), the protagonist in ``The Minus Man,'' is a pleasant enough fellow, quiet, affable, a hard worker in his holiday temp job at the post office, with little to say about his hazily drawn past.

Vann's quick to share his flask of amaretto with new acquaintances, too, though he doesn't really drink himself. Of course, his new-found friends probably wouldn't drink either if they realized Vann had lethally spiked the alcohol with a fast-acting poison.

Vann, it turns out, likes to subtract people from his surroundings, poisoning near strangers in towns where he doesn't live, then burying them where they can't be found. Thus the name of this intriguing, if ultimately somewhat unsatisfying little film by 60-year-old first-time director Hampton Fancher, who is best known as the screenwriter for ``Blade Runner.''

That said, ``The Minus Man,'' which opened Friday, is about as far from ``Blade Runner'' as you can imagine. Where that stylish cyberpunk thriller was dark and fast-moving and violent, this film is flooded with the chilly, clear light of a California winter, and ambles about as slowly as the residents in the small coastal town in which it is set.

And though the bodies pile up nearly as fast as in most Harrison Ford action films, their dispatching is of a remarkably gentle sort: They take a swig from Vann's flask, they nod off to sleep, they get subtracted from the human race. Without a doubt, this may be the least violent film about a serial killer that's ever been made.

In fact, there's only one scene with even mild violence in it, and that's a romantic clinch between Vann and Ferrin (Janeane Garofalo) that inexplicably turns into a brief scuffle, further confusing the would-be girlfriend.

The audience will share Ferrin's confusion as the film unfolds. Though the film is driven by Vann's voice-over narration and blackout-related scenes in his mind where he ``talks'' with two imaginary cops (country star Dwight Yoakam and Dennis Haysbert) trying to catch him, it never really lets us learn why Vann kills.

We see him quickly strike up a friendship with the couple (a boozy Brian Cox and the eternally luminous Mercedes Ruehl) who rent him a room that once belonged to their daughter, who has since disappeared.

And he melts easily into the town's fabric, making friends, then killing some of them, though even he can't explain why. ``The Minus Man'' is being billed as a conversation starter, a film where you shouldn't bring a ``dumb date.''

But while any critic appreciates a film that asks an audience to do its own thinking, it would help if we were given at least a few more clues to work with.

There are no great passions, no great hates, no terrible childhood wrongs, no demons, nothing to blame or attach upon when trying to figure out why Vann kills. Instead, we get what one character calls ``a cipher,'' a quiet killer whose code we can't decrypt.

The film does build a mild tension, in its ambling way, as it appears that police are closing in on Vann after Ruehl's character is found dead and police interview him.

But of course, the cops are looking for a suspect, not a cipher. Ultimately, the man most missing in this film is the one subtracted from the middle, the Minus Man.

THE FACTS

The film: ``The Minus Man'' (R; strong language, adult subject matter, murders portrayed in non-violent ways).

The stars: Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, Brian Cox, Mercedes Ruehl, Dwight Yoakam, Dennis Haysbert, Sheryl Crow.

Behind the scenes: Written and directed by Hampton Fancher, based on a novel by Lew McCreary. Produced by David Bushell and Fida Attieh. Cinematography by Bobby Bukowski. Music by Marco Beltrami.

Running time: One hour, 52 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5, West Hollywood; Laemmle's

Our rating: Two and one half stars.

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Photo

Photo: Janeane Garofalo is puzzled by a drifter (Owen Wilson) in her coastal town in ``The Minus Man.''