"You Kill Me" (2007)
Rated: R
STARRING: Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Bill Pullman, Luke Wilson
SUMMARY: An alcoholic hit man screws up the biggest hit of his career and is sent to San Francisco to clean to himself up.
I love hit man movies. I do. "Leon: The Professional" is one of the greatest movies ever made. "Grosse Pointe Blank" is up there, too. Even the screenplay I wrote this year that made the finals in an international competition was about a hit man. I love hit man stories. Why? I've been trying to figure that out. There's a universal interest in the hit man as an archetype, and I look forward to studying it in further detail. But sufficed to say, in the movies, hit men are cool. Sunglasses. Expensive suits. Black cars. And a "license" to kill.
Ben Kingsley's hit man is not cool. He's pathetic. He's a complete drunk and a complete jerk. Two things that often go together. But when he's forced to try to dry out, the character growth is fantastic.
The movie is about a hit man, but the main story could have been told just as effectively, if quite a bit less interestingly, if the main character was an insurance agent. Or a banker. Or a grocer. The story is about one man trying to beat his addiction and everything that comes with that. The hit man element is a subplot involving his family. It adds a little more jeopardy to his need to get cleaned up, but it's not the focus.
I was surprised to see that this movie, rated R primarily for language, was written by the guys who wrote the screenplay for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" and the upcoming "Prince Caspian!" No wonder that "Christian" film was so good. These writers aren't just Christians wanting to make a movie, if they're Christians at all. They're GOOD WRITERS. Plain and simple.
This movie wasn't boring for a second. Slow at times, yes. But never boring. Tea Leoni, one of the most beautiful women on the face of the EARTH, plays Kingsley's almost equally screwed up love interest masterfully, as she always does. There's not really a whole lot of chemistry between the two, but I think that has a lot to do with the characters themselves. Both very flawed. Both very guarded. Both unwilling to totally commit which includes giving of yourself in a way that neither can fully do.
I really liked this movie. The direction was great. The writing better. And the performances worthy of these magnificent actors. My biggest, if not only, problem is that it wasn't all that memorable of a movie. When I saw "Leon," I was entranced from minute one (I really should write an extensive review/essay on that film one of these days). "Grosse Pointe Blank" is a very original take on the hit man approach, about as original as "You Kill Me," but the humor in "Grosse" is much more evident and the romantic-comedy element more integral to the story. "You Kill Me," while a great movie, just didn't strike a chord the same way as some other movies.
Content: Language isn't as bad as some other R-rated movies I've seen, but it's definitely R worthy. Violence. Well, it's a hit man movie with a mafia subplot. It's a given. Not as bad as, say, "The Godfather," but it's there. Gore, none, unless you count a decimated watermelon gore. Sexuality/nudity, implied sex and a bikini. Luke Wilson's character is gay, but they never talk about it at all. VERY mild for R. If it wasn't for the language, it would be PG-13, easy.
OVERALL: 7
LANGUAGE: 4
VIOLENCE: 3.5
GORE: 0.5
SEXUALITY: 1.5
NUDITY: 1
