'Herman USA' is a sentimental, feel-good movie

Article by: Jeff Strickler , Star Tribune
Updated: September 13, 2001 - 11:00 PM

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''Herman USA'' is a sentimental, feel-good movie. It makes no apologies for that -- nor does it need to.

Written and directed by Cricket Theater founder Bill Semans, it is breezy and fluffy, and proudly sports its soap-operatic emotions on its sleeve. Although hardly innovative in character, story or presentation, it is entirely enjoyable.

Semans put together a fictionalized account of the bachelors in Herman, Minn., who became media darlings in 1994 when they went national with their need to attract more single women to the town. The film focuses on what happened in Herman, not all the media hype it generated from the likes of Oprah Winfrey to the London Times.

Although there were 78 bachelors, the movie zeroes in on a few, each representing a type:

Denny (Michael O'Keefe, an Oscar nominee for "The Great Santini") is the one who comes up with the idea of sponsoring a fall-festival singles dance. He thinks a couple dozen women might show up; 1,000 come instead.

Walter (Minnesota actor Garth Schumacher) is a farmer with a passion for poetry.

Wayne (Broadway actor Kevin Chamberlin) is so shy that he's comfortable only around his hogs.

Sigurd (Wally Dunn, "In Dreams") is the high-school valedictorian who has bounced from one dead-end job to another.

Vernon (Richard Wharton, "Men Don't Leave") considers himself God's gift to women; they consider him a joke.

Shooter (veteran character actor Tony Mockus) is a sophisticated smart-aleck who likes to see how many people he can fool with his tall tales.

Dorrie (Broadway actress Enid Graham) has a crush on Denny that she's never admitted, even to herself. She and her best friend (local actress Suzanne Warmanen) look upon the whole thing as an insult.

Each story plays out predictably. Even with the protagonists reduced to a handful, there are still too many to be developed fully. At first, they're so similar that it's a struggle to keep them all straight.

Semans' stage background shows. There are lots of longer-distance shots and only a few closeups. But the narrative doesn't seem stagebound. Although there isn't much action -- unless you consider a tractor bouncing across a field action -- the filmmakers have done a good job of mixing interior scenes with exterior shots to keep things from getting claustrophobic.

Semans is respectful of small-town life. There's not a rube in sight. Sigurd is as well-read as any big-city highbrow. Shooter could pass for a maitre d' in a four-star restaurant. Computers are prominent.

Is the movie corny? Very. You might even say sappy. Nonetheless, it passes the most important test: We like the characters and care about what happens to them. And that makes "Herman USA" worth a visit.

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