Rating of
4/4
John Cusack show his talent again.
mdtinney - wrote on 08/21/09
I must confess my review will be a little biased. I have long been a huge John Cusack fan, since around 1985 which was the first time I saw the marvellously under-rated high school black comedy Better Off Dead. Cusack has had the knack over the years of choosing good scripts usually (but not always) in smaller budget films. He is a fine fine actor in an understated sort of way and his gravity and comic timing lend him well to this role. Cusack plays the world weary hitman who gets a second chance at life courtesy of his High School Reunion and his childhood sweetheart (whom he jilted at the prom). While this is predominantly a comedy, it's not a laugh a minute it is also hardly a typical movie. How many hitmen are the good guys? More to the point how many hitmen are the good guys, get the girl and ride off happily into the sunset? There's a very welcome indie feel about the whole production but it still manages to look slick. The cast is of the highest order. Just about the entire CUsack family makes an appearance somewhere, Minnie Driver is well quite frankly gorgeous in a way I can't quite put my finger on. She's also a damn fine actress and the American accent is not a problem for her. This also probably represents Dan Aykroyd's finest performance since Ghostbusters. He's well cast as the overly fussy rival hitman. The real star of the show is a cameo by Alan Arkin as Martin Blank's long suffering psychiatrist. Much humour is made of the fact that no-one seems to believe Martin is a hitman although he is very liberal with this information. The attention to detail as mentioned in a previous review is what sets this movie apart and provides it with some of the best laughs. The way the hitmen stand and talk to each other, Martin not being able to sit with his back to a door, the authentically believable high school reunion. All of these things combine to make what is pretty unbelievable subject matter, well, believable!
