Director: George Armitage
Running time: 107 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15
UK Release Date: 8th August 1997
Watched on Sky+ Sunday 13th June 2010.
PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.
Remember back a few years when John Cusack used to make good films. You know, before he sold his soul and started to make not so good films like ‘2012’. Well, as part of a season of ‘Movies you never got round to watching but always wanted to see’ on one of the movie channels, this film came up. Well, I’d seen all the others they were showing and so I thought I’d better give it a viewing. Here’s a short summary followed by my thoughts.
Martin Blank is a hit man, he works freelance with his assistant Marcella doing the office work for him. One day Marcella tells him he’s been invited to his ten year school reunion. Martin is at first reluctant to go, but agrees when a job comes up in the area and his therapist, Dr. Oatman, tells him it would be a good idea. Unfortunately Martin has upset one of his rivals, Grocer, who is now stalking him using two government agents as a screen. Whilst in town for the reunion, Martin looks up his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry, who works at the local radio station. After a bit of an awkward start the Debi agrees to go with him despite the fact the he didn’t turn up on their prom night ten years earlier. Throw in another assassin with a contract on Martin and we’ve got us a movie!
First of all, a really great soundtrack, The Clash, Motorhead, Queen, lots of great songs littered throughout. Pretty well made, but showing its age now just form the fact the mobile phones (or cell phones) have got so much smaller nowadays. Decent performances from all of the leading cast; John Cusack as Martin Q. Blank, Minnie Driver as Debi Newberry, Alan Arkin as Dr. Oatman, Dan Aykroyd as Grocer and Joan Cusack as Marcella.
This is a bit of an awkward one to assess; it starts out as a comedy, and then becomes a love story and then back to an action comedy for the grand finale. For me it works best as a comedy, I found the somewhat schmaltzy love story a bit of a distraction. I also kind of wasn’t all that convinced that Debi would have trusted Martin after what he did on prom night. But that may just be me. Over all, as I just said, I think it works better as a comedy than a love story, and it’s worth seeing for the satire alone. Recommended.
My score: 6.8/10
LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/
Running time: 107 mins (approx)
Certificate (UK): 15
UK Release Date: 8th August 1997
Watched on Sky+ Sunday 13th June 2010.
PLEASE NOTE: POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.
Remember back a few years when John Cusack used to make good films. You know, before he sold his soul and started to make not so good films like ‘2012’. Well, as part of a season of ‘Movies you never got round to watching but always wanted to see’ on one of the movie channels, this film came up. Well, I’d seen all the others they were showing and so I thought I’d better give it a viewing. Here’s a short summary followed by my thoughts.
Martin Blank is a hit man, he works freelance with his assistant Marcella doing the office work for him. One day Marcella tells him he’s been invited to his ten year school reunion. Martin is at first reluctant to go, but agrees when a job comes up in the area and his therapist, Dr. Oatman, tells him it would be a good idea. Unfortunately Martin has upset one of his rivals, Grocer, who is now stalking him using two government agents as a screen. Whilst in town for the reunion, Martin looks up his high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry, who works at the local radio station. After a bit of an awkward start the Debi agrees to go with him despite the fact the he didn’t turn up on their prom night ten years earlier. Throw in another assassin with a contract on Martin and we’ve got us a movie!
First of all, a really great soundtrack, The Clash, Motorhead, Queen, lots of great songs littered throughout. Pretty well made, but showing its age now just form the fact the mobile phones (or cell phones) have got so much smaller nowadays. Decent performances from all of the leading cast; John Cusack as Martin Q. Blank, Minnie Driver as Debi Newberry, Alan Arkin as Dr. Oatman, Dan Aykroyd as Grocer and Joan Cusack as Marcella.
This is a bit of an awkward one to assess; it starts out as a comedy, and then becomes a love story and then back to an action comedy for the grand finale. For me it works best as a comedy, I found the somewhat schmaltzy love story a bit of a distraction. I also kind of wasn’t all that convinced that Debi would have trusted Martin after what he did on prom night. But that may just be me. Over all, as I just said, I think it works better as a comedy than a love story, and it’s worth seeing for the satire alone. Recommended.
My score: 6.8/10
LINKS:
IMDb Site: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0119229/
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