Grosse Pointe Blank

Some movies have a good story that is made great by the casting. This is one such film. It has a cast to die for and makes what could have been an interesting film superb.

John and Joan Cusack play great characters along with Minnie Driver in a film about a hit man returning to his home town for a high school reunion. he reconnects with a lost love while competitors are trying to rub him out.

There is an assortment of characters in the film: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) as Dr. Oatman; Dan Akroyd as Blank's main competitor; Hank Azaria, K. Todd Freeman and Jeremy Piven.

This film has enough laughs amid the shooting and romance to satisfy anyone.

One of the complaints about movies these days, and justifiably so, is that they're predictable. This movie is not predictable, and I never thought I'd be able to say that about a movie with four credited writers. Every time you think you can guess where it's going, it throws a curve. It was also very funny, which is nice because good comedies are becoming a rare species. John Cusack continues to show what a great actor he is as hitman Martin Blank. He doesn't wink at the audience, saying, Oh look, I'm a hitman, but plays him as normal, with the right amount of misgivings and tenacity. Minnie Driver is quite good as the woman he's still obsessed with (although she was good in GOOD WILL HUNTING, she should have been nominated for this performance), and Alan Arkin and Jeremy Piven were good, as ever, in support. The surprise, however, is Dan Aykroyd. Just when I was prepared to write him off forever, he comes through with a great performance here. The soundtrack is terrific too, avoiding the cliched 80's songs to provide a fresh, and compatible, score.

Although not nearly as popular as it deserves to be, GROSS POINTE BLANK has become an increasingly respected cult flick in the year following its theatrical release and it's not hard to see why. The movie is probably the only film on earth that is able to blend comedy, graphic violence, and romance together perfectly, which is what makes it such a classic. John Cusack is excellent as Martin Q. Blank, a hit-man who attends his ten-year high school reunion. At first he doesn't want to, but decides to go since he has a case there and he wants to see his old girlfriend Debbie (Minnie Driver) again. This dark comedy is heavy on exciting action, suspense, gunfire, laughs, and fun, but it doesn't have not quite enough character development for my taste (a bit more on how Martin became accustomed to killing would have been nice). Still, GROSSE POINTE BLANK was one of the best films of 1997 and one of the better comedies of the 1990s. There were rumors of a sequel happening for a while, though the chances of that happening are slim to none. Too bad.

Watched this for the first time in 20 years and all I could think of was "what ever happened to John Cusack and why doesn't he make great films like this???" Fantastic sound track to a black comedy.

John Cusack (hit man) has got a violent feud with Dan Akroyd (another hit man). In between there is a budding romance with Minnie Driver and when I say " in between" I mean literally in between the shootouts and sometimes even DURING the shootouts. Hilarious. Original.

Weird, yet quite unique combination of violence and romance. It's literally like a gangster shooting someone and a second later proposing to marry his high school sweetheart. Sounds silly? Wait till you see it and seeing it you must if you are into black gangster comedies.

The good: produced by John Cusack himself, meaning he had control and it shows. The jokes are spot on and the story is refreshingly original, however weird it might be. Nice eighties soundtrack as well.

Any bad? It's a bit silly. So what? It's meant to be out of control silly, THAT's the fun of it.