The Whole Nine Yards

Now here is a rare breed: a mainstream movie that works at just about every level without dumbing anything down or making the average viewer think too hard. "The Whole Nine Yards" is a great movie to simply sit back and enjoy.

Nicholas "Oz" Ozeransky (Matthew Perry) is a mild-mannered dentist whose stuck with a wife who hates him (Rosanna Arquette in a hilariously over-the-top performance) and a huge debt that his partner (his father-in-law) left him when he kicked the bucket. Then his new neighbor moves in. This neighbor, much to Oz's horror, is none other than Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis), the infamous hit-man for the Gogolak gang. Oz's wife tells him that they should rat Jimmy out to the Gogolaks to get a "finder's fee." Oz obviously refuses, but agrees to go when his wife agrees that if he does this, she'll give him a divorce. Thus begins a hilarious story of double crosses, new romances, and hamburgers with mayonnaise.

The cast is first rate. Matthew Perry is in full panic-mode, and his reactions to the situations he finds himself in (and their resulting consequences) are hilarious. Bruce Willis is perfectly cast as Jimmy. It's a typecast role, but Willis plays him with a slight tongue-in-cheek. It works wonderfully. While it allows for plenty of laughs, it also gives him an air of menace, which adds another layer to the humor. We are aware of Jimmy's capacity for violence, but the way Willis plays it results in moments of laughter mixed with suspense. Natasha Henstridge radiates a cool sexuality mixed with vulnerability as Jimmy's ex-wife who falls for Oz. Michael Clarke Duncan is also well-cast as Jimmy's fellow hit-man, Frankie. Kevin Pollack and Rosanna Arquette are so over-the-top that their performances must be seen to be believed.

But as good as this cast is, and it's great, the film is stolen from all of them by newcomer Amanda Peet. It takes a great performer to steal scenes with actors at the top of their game. But Peet didn't just steal her scenes, she walked away with the whole movie. Peet is positively delightful as Oz's ditzy receptionist, who has more of a part to play in this than anyone realizes. Peet is hysterical; her performance should have at least gotten her an Oscar nod, if not a win.

"The Whole Nine Yards" is a mix of film-noir and screwball comedy. Director Jonathan Lynn has a lot of fun with the conventions of each genre, including mixing and matching the character traits of the femme-fatale and the "good girl" (you'll see what I mean when you watch the movie). What I really liked is that the humor of the movie is not over-the-top exaggeration humor (like The Farrelly Brothers). This is more about timing and dialogue; it's like a 1930's screwball comedy without the Hays Code. To be sure, the film does not leave out the trademark of the noir genre: the twisty plot. "The Whole Nine Yards" boasts plenty of surprises, and quite a bit of suspense. Just because this is a comedy doesn't mean you can tell where it's going.

Mixing these two genres would seem impossible because more often than not, one would dilute the other. But Lynn manages to walk the line between the two opposite genres and play them both equally well. The film is well-paced, and the timing on the jokes is perfect. There are no over-the-top visual effects, and that's a good thing.

"The Whole Nine Yards" may not be classic film material, but it's highly entertaining. And with a movie like this, that's just about all that one could ask for.

Is a guy who has killed seventeen people necessarily a `bad' guy? Not a question everybody is going to have to ask themselves, to be sure, but what if that guy moved in next door to you? It's a situation that just may induce an introspective moment or two. Which is exactly what happens in `The Whole Nine Yards,' directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry. Hit-man Jimmy `The Tulip' Tudeski (Willis) ratted out his boss in Chicago, and now he's on the lam. He makes his way to Canada, where he buys a house next door to a hapless dentist, Nicholas `Oz' Oseransky (Perry), who is suffering from inherited debts and a shrew of a wife, Sophie (Rosanna Arquette), not to mention a mother-in-law from Hell (Carmen Ferland). When he realizes who his neighbor is about to be, his first instinct is to run, but Sophie has other ideas. It seems there's a price on Jimmy's head; one Janni Gogolack (Kevin Pollak) would like to take his revenge on the guy who's responsible for his father going away for a long, long time. So Sophie squeezes Oz into a corner until he agrees to go to Chicago and meet with Janni to put the finger on Jimmy. Not a great idea, Oz thinks, but it at least sounds like a nice vacation, so he goes. But, of course, he should have stayed with his instincts, because he soon finds himself looking down the barrel of trouble. And the only way out, it seems, is down...

What Lynn put together here is actually a fairly light-hearted, black comedy; the nature of the story dictates that there will be violence in it, and there is, but much of it is implied rather than graphic. The pace is good, and Lynn develops the characters enough to let you know exactly who they are and what they are all about. There's not a lot of depth, but it's not necessary; the actors have each made their respective characters unique to a point that puts them beyond stereotype, and it works perfectly for this film and the story. Some of what happens is inevitable, though not necessarily predictable, and certain aspects will keep you guessing right up to the end. Typical of a comedy that leans to the dark side, nothing in this story is cut and dried.

Willis is perfect as Jimmy The Tulip, giving a rather reserved, subtle performance that puts Jimmy's guarded but confident manner into perspective. Underneath it all, this guy is really rather cold-blooded (he has to be, given his choice of employment), but his relationship with Oz gives it some warmth, at least externally. Like Chow Yun-Fat in `The Killer,' Jimmy is likable, but when you consider at arm's length who he is and what he is capable of, it's a bit disconcerting. And that's one of the aspects of the film that is so interesting-- because you know who and what Jimmy is, you never really know which way things are going to turn.

Perry is excellent, as well, as `Oz.' Henpecked and in dire straits, he is something of an updated version of the W.C. Fields character in `It's A Gift' or `The Bank Dick,' although a bit darker. Perry is charismatic, has impeccable timing with his delivery and uses physical comedy to great effect. His reactions to Willis and the situations in which he finds himself are brilliant and hilarious, and he seems to instinctively know just how far to take it to make it work. And it's the little, seemingly insignificant things he brings to the character that give the film that extra something and creates some memorable moments.

The supporting cast includes Michael Clarke Duncan (Frankie Figs), Natasha Henstridge (Cynthia), Amanda Peet (Jill St. Claire), Harland Williams (Special Agent Hanson) and Serge Christianssens (Mr. Boulez). It may not be the most original movie ever made, but `The Whole Nine Yards' is funny, has a great cast of actors who have taken characters you've basically seen before and made them their own, and does exactly what a film like this is supposed to do: Entertain. It's not going to make you ponder the universe or the state of the world today, but it's going to give you a couple of hours of laughs and some residual chuckles. Which, when you think about it, is not such a bad deal. It's the magic of the movies. I rate this one 7/10.

"The Whole Nine Yards" is a comedy that is what it is ... A Comedy

This is not a epic movie or a Oscar nominee, it is a pure entertaining movie. Whit Action star Bruce Willis in a different role. (You haven't seen him like this since "Blind Date" or "Death becomes her")

Matthew Perry is hilarious in this move, and the rest of the cast has their moments, and they are using them good.

"The Whole Nine Yards" is funny and entertaining like a comedy of this sort should be.

I mean that this is a good move, and I will recommend it to others. But I also say: "Either you like this movie or you don't".

Judging from the comments below, I guess being a hitman is not much to laugh at...and the term 'black comedy' doesn't come to anyone's mind? Does that extend to the fact that without George Raft going after Jack Lemmon & Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot", they would have no reason to meet Marilyn, get on a train to Miami, etc. etc. ??

Of course its not funny in real life that people get killed. But this comedy starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry is very well done and had me laughing about it even when it was over. It was so over the top and so overpopulated with killers and gangsters and contract killings that at times its hard to remember what's going on and who is out to kill whom, but it does not matter at all since its all in fun.

I do not like either of the leads, generally speaking. I liked about five out of all Bruce Willis' movies and Perry I've seen on his tv show and enjoyed him but never really thought about him much. In this they are both very well cast and when they strike up a friendship, its believable. Willis does not do a 'goombah, fuggetaboutit' attitude or accent, thankfully, even though his character has an Italian surname, and does not mug for the audience at all.

Amanda Peet is very funny as a wanna-be hitwoman and a fan of the real killers, and Michael Clarke Duncan is also very funny.

Only downside is Rosanna Arquette - bad casting choice here! Maybe someone owed her a favor. Ironically, she is not one of the people who has a contract out on her, though God knows she's annoying enough for one.

THE WHOLE NINE YARDS (2000) ** Matthew Perry, Bruce Willis, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Pollak, Harlan Williams.

Matthew Perry is one of my favorite comedic actors in that he's kind of a throwback to the light comedy fare of Jack Lemmon and Tom Hanks: handsome, charming and an utter neurotic mess with a sharp self-deprecating wit with his nonchalant sarcastic jibing that is all play and totally harmless, with a twist of slapstick. Here all of that is on display with a finely tuned tailor made character not unlike his tv alter ego, Chandler Bing (love that name!) from `Friends'.

Oz Oseransky is a mild-mannered affable dentist whose life is in flux when his trampy French accented wife Sophie (Arquette in full blown voluptuosness) decides she wants to end their marriage. But not by the usual traditional method of divorce or anulment; instead she takes out a contract on his life Enter newly arrived next-door-neighbor Jimmy `The Tulip' Tudeski (Willis in barely restrained comic form) a hitman keeping it low since there's a contract on him by a really ticked off Russian thug (Pollak oozing Eurotrash unctuousness). But when Oz's wife approaches him he is hard-pressed to do what comes natural since Oz turns out to be the good neighbor he never had and an unlikely ally as things progress in the plotline that eventually involves Jimmy's estranged, va-va-va voom wife Cynthia (Henstridge, best known as the sexy alien in the `Species' sci-fi flicks) who wants a divorce but knows that it's more likely a hit would be necessary.

Meanwhile Oz is struck by love at first sight when he meets Mrs. Jimmy and winds up bedding her (in spite of the fact he knows who Jimmy is after some hilarious reaction shots as the story moves on with each new trickle of information on his new `friend'), which only complicates things when Jimmy announces he is going to `whack' her and Janni, the mad Russian.

Perry is a marvelous reactionary actor and plays very well off a unique ensemble including the babelicious Peet as Jill, his receptionist- turned - assassin - wannabe , who has a knack for displaying her natural assets to dissuade any potential violent threat and Duncan (recently nominated for a Best Supporting Actor as the gentle giant in `The Green Mile') has a sweet low-key turn as the hulking pal of Willis who provides some funny sight gags (including his first meeting with Perry who literally bounces off this wall of a man).

Yet no matter how game the cast is - including off the wall comic Harland Williams as another seedy character who doesn't appear to be who he claims to be - and the fast pace of the storyline, there aren't that many memorable lines of dialogue or full grasp that a lethal killer like Jimmy actually has a heart of gold for the likes of a schnook like Oz.

It would be easy to blame the less than compelling story line on screenwriter Mitchell Kapner (who gives an original spin on a plot twist and complex scenario involving dental records and a corpse) or director Jonathan Lynn (`My Cousin Vinny'), but both make the best overall. It just isn't a fresh idea (think of `The In-Laws' which set the high water mark for odd couple/fish-out-of-water hybrid with a criminal element) that seems to hook the attention of a much needed audience. But it is divertingly fun just to see Perry slamming himself silly like a pinball.