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Starring: | John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Joan Cusack, Dan Akroyd |
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| Directed By: | George Armitage | |
| Written By: | Tom Jankiewicz |
OK, I've got to be very careful where I tread with this review, lest I offend a certain John Cusack fan. Ordinarily I wouldn't worry, but it's difficult to type with broken fingers.
Remember all those films from the 1970's/80's where a class would get together for their reunion? You know, the geeky yet lovable nerd would now be a good-looking billionaire, the class frump would have blossomed into the most attractive woman in the tri-state area, the bullies would be fat and the bitches now heavily-pregnant mothers of four? No? Good for you, they're worth forgetting. But now, Grosse Pointe Blank brings the genre back with a vengeance. Strangely, the same year that Romy And Michele's High School Reunion did exactly the same thing (just not as well). Never say Hollywood doesn't come up with original ideas. But this time around, there's a difference...
Martin Blank (John Cusack) disappeared on prom night, leaving his girlfriend (Minnie Driver) alone and humiliated. Ten years later, it's the class reunion and Marty's back, but not for the party. Martin is now an assassin, performing one last hit before he retires. He's fed up with the violence and death (but by the suits he wears, he doesn't seem to mind the money) and on advice from his terrified therapist, decides to drop by anyway. He hooks up with his old flame and schoolmates, and begins to rediscover himself. Unfortunately, some old friends aren't aware of his conversion, and wouldn't care anyway.
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This is undoubtedly a very good film. John Cusack is more suave and clean cut than Jean Reno's Leon providing eye-candy for the ladies, Joan Cusack is fantastic as Martin's assistant (why isn't she in more films? WHY?), Dan Akroyd is surprisingly bearable as the bitter rival assassin, and then we have Minnie Driver. I don't know what went wrong here, but Minnie seems to have lost all semblance of acting ability. Her character is boring and predictable, not intriguing as the director probably hoped, leaving the audience wondering what Martin could possibly see in her. Maybe she became that way after Martin left, but she doesn't present him with much of a warm welcome, or any incentive to get back together with her. As for her job as a DJ? It's surprising the small town of Grosse Pointe doesn't have the highest suicide rate in the country. Pretentious and pious, she left me with a bitter aftertaste. |
There's enough action to keep the kill-happy fans who heard it was about an assassin content, whilst keeping the body count quite low. The laughs are kept at a consistantly high level, with a witty script as well as several moments of physical humour. The only other things to let the film down are the secondary characters. Martin's mother amongst others needed more screen time to make us care. Admittedly, I don't know where this time could've come from, but then again it's my job to criticise not create.
The soundtrack is quite typically 1980's based, I think. To read more about it go to Hobgoblin's soundtrack review.
Summary: Definitely worth watching. John Cusack plays the role he was born for, whilst supported by a great cast and an even better script. Shame about Minnie though. Or maybe I'm just saying all of this for my own protection?
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