You Kill Me

"You Kill Me" is as dark a comedy as you can get. It may also be the first artistically successful romantic comedy noir. Directed by John Dahl (best known for his indie-noirs "Red Rock West" and "The Last Seduction" and the underrated killer trucker flick "Joyride"), the film depicts a hit man (Ben Kingsley-deep in character) forced into Alcoholics Anonymous by his "family" because his drinking has been affecting his ability to kill people. Shipped off to San Franscisco to start his 12 Steps, he picks up a part-time gig at a funeral home and meets a sassy single woman with "boundary issues" (Tea Leoni-hilarious) after her step-dad dies and proceeds to start an unconventional romance with her while struggling to stay on the wagon and learn how to kill again.

The film starts off very low key, and Dahl keeps such a consistently dark tone it's hard to adjust to the cadence. As good as Kingsley is here, the show really belongs to Leoni. When she finally arrives on the scene, the film reaches a level of hilarity you weren't expecting. Her facial expressions, comic timing, and interplay with Kingsley as she learns the truth about his past are pure gold. Leoni has had her fair share of commercial successes ("Bad Boys," "Deep Impact," "The Family Man", and "Jurassic Park III") but it's in this type of offbeat low-budget comedy where she really shines. She was dynamite in "Flirting with Disaster" and was the best foil for Woody Allen since Diane Keaton in the otherwise forgettable "Hollywood Ending." Here all her comic charms are on display, and she proves that at the age of 40, she is aging not only gracefully and naturally, but with all her sexiness and innate talents in tact.

While the film goes through the predictable motions in its final act, it's the gooey goodness of the middle portion (especially one laugh-out-loud montage of Leoni helping Kingsley train for his return to "work") that will leave a smile on your face, with Leoni's luminosity as a comedic actress scorched into your mind.

Hollywood loves assassins. You can't go more than a few weeks without a new hit-man movie hitting (sorry) the multiplexes. Hell, later this year, there's a movie coming out literally called "Hitman".

The new trend seems to be putting comedic twists on the assassin film. I guess we can thank Tarantino for that. Within the past few years, stuff like "Mr.& Mrs. Smith", "The Whole Nine Yards", "The Matador", "Grosse Pointe Blank", and "Lucky Number Slevin" gave us clever little plays on the assassin genre. If you're at all familiar with those films, you'll feel right at home with "You Kill Me".

Ben Kingsley plays Frank Falenczyk, a hit-man for the Polish Mob out of Buffalo, New York. Frank's an alcoholic, and recently it's been affecting his work. As a result, his superiors send him to San Francisco to attend Alcoholics Anonymous until he can sober up.

The movie doesn't win any points for originality, but it does have a lot to offer. Kingsley puts on a capable, sympathetic show - pretty impressive for a guy who spends the majority of the film getting hammered. Téa Leoni does well enough as the obligatory love interest. The age difference took a little getting used to. Dennis Farina and Philip Baker Hall are a treat to watch playing essentially the same roles they've been playing forever. Hall is the soft spoken head of the Polish Mob Family, while Farina is the loudmouth villain heading up the Italians. Bill Pullman also has a small role as a sleazy real estate agent. Anyone who's seen "Lucky Numbers" knows that Pullman has a talent for quirky lowlifes, and he shines here.

This is a very light movie. It won't blow you away in any regards, but it is a solid 90 minutes of easy entertainment. The script is essentially Frank's struggle to fight his habit. We also get a light love story and a touch of crime thriller. It's a strange juggling act, but Kingsley and director John Dahl pull it off. Don't get discouraged by the bland name. With just enough laughs, drama, and action – this is a small movie than just about anybody can have fun with.

Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) is a hit-man for the Polish mob in Buffalo but the drinking is getting in the way. He is forced to sober up in San Francisco. Tom (Luke Wilson) is his sponsor from AA, and he gets a mortician job. He falls for Laurel Pearson (Téa Leoni) who loves older men because they're done testing.

Ben Kingsley is going deadpan acting in this one. He's especially proud of the precision in his killings. It's not the killing that he regrets. It's the lack of professionalism when he was drinking. It's a quirky character. He, Leoni, and Wilson are all likable people. They talk about the craziest things nonchalantly. It's a rather low energy affair. It's a quirky and cute cast, but they're not necessarily laugh out loud funny. Kingsley is too calm. He needs to play up the wackiness.

This film has been advertised as a thriller. The pacing of this film is very slow and much too slow to be classified as a thriller. If you watch this expecting a movie full of action and suspense you will be disappointed.

Here's what's good about this film. All the talent that has been brought to this project has been first rate. The writing is excellent. All the actors down to the very minor ones nail their characters and deliver superb believable performances. The cinematography, sound and other technical elements are 'invisible,' which means that those aspects of the film have been done flawlessly.

The movie is very funny with many laughs. The comedy emerges from the situations as everyone in the film plays it straight as if it were a drama.

It takes a very skilled director to pull off this type of story successfully. Minor flaws can make it not work. This film works.

I think if you drop your fast paced thriller expectations for this film you will find it extremely enjoyable.

When my mom and I were at Blockbuster the other day, I noticed You Kill Me, I kinda remember it being released in the theater and hearing a good review from a friend of mine. So I rented it and watched it the other night, I didn't know what to expect, I didn't even really know what it was about. Now, we have such a trend in Hollywood, the hit-man comedies, there are quite a few, why not? Something so serious and scary, you can't help but just have fun with it. But for the most part, it's starting to get old and some movies are just trying to upstage the classics like The Whole Nine Yards and such, so You Kill Me is just nothing new, so it doesn't stand out. While it's worth the watch, it has some fun moments here and there, it's just that I expected something new or fresh, and the funny drunk hit-man isn't working for me.

Frank is a hit man for his "family business", but when he sleeps right through the biggest hit, due to his drinking, he's messing up left and right, so his boss tells him get sober or get killed. So they send him to rehab away from home. There he gets a new job as a make up artist for corpses at a funeral home. He meets a new friend at rehab, Tom, who is Frank's sponsor as well. He also meets a new girl, Laurel, who becomes the unexpected love of his life, and helps him out with the biggest hit of his life.

You Kill Me isn't a bad movie by any means, it is worth the look, but just trust me, it's nothing special. But both Kingsley and Leoni pull in good and solid performances that make the film worth watching. I don't know if their kissing exactly "sizzled" the screen, but it's all good, their last scenes together during the big hit were great and really pulled off well. So if you have the opportunity to see it, go ahead and watch it, it's a decent enough film with some fun laughs and good actors.

6/10