YOU KILL ME
Making Him Want to Be a Better Hit Man: An Alcoholic Killer's Angst at Shooting
Blanks
(The Whole Nine Millimeter Yards)
The Popcorn Reel Movie Review: "You Kill Me"
By Omar P.L. Moore/June 22, 2007
Frankly, and to the (gun) point: Ben Kingsley as Frank
Falencyk in "You Kill Me", John Dahl's romantic comedy, which opened today.
(Photos: IFC Films)
Ben Kingsley's Don Logan character from "Sexy Beast" has now
years later morphed into an alcoholic shell of his former self, an inhibited,
irritated hit man named Frank Falencyk, who does his best to excommunicate
himself from his Polish crime family by falling asleep at the wheel in a crucial
situation. The Buffalo, New York-based Polish crime boss Roman Krzeminski
(Philip Baker Hall) banishes him to San Francisco on a sabbatical of sorts,
crimping this career criminal's style, in an effort to send him to rehab.
Dave (Bill Pullman) is lurking around every corner of the Northern California
city to ensure that the hit man-in-black complies with the boss's wishes.
In San Francisco, Frank stumbles into an AA clinic and meets Tom (Luke Wilson) a
gay alcoholic who befriends Frank. They are quite a pair, and things
become even more interesting when Laurel (Tea Leoni) enters the fray, courtesy
of Frank's new occupation as a funeral worker who prepares bodies (presumably
those he hasn't killed) for burial. Laurel has just experienced loss, and
she is as vacant a person before losing her father -- if not more so -- than
after. John Dahl's "You Kill Me", which opened today in the U.S. and
Canada in limited release, is inventive, funny and tells a great story about two
people in Laurel and Frank who find themselves drifting closer together like the
fog that comes in off the San Francisco Bay.
The most impressive thing about Mr. Dahl's latest film is the intimacy and
richness of the interactions between the two interesting lead characters Frank
and Laurel. Their growth as very disparate beings is well-rendered.
Lonely souls, they are looking for something, and initially it is not each
other. But they meet and evolve, and soon romance takes over. Both
characters in the tight screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are
superbly drawn and not an ounce of credibility is lacking. Between
Laurel's vacancy and Frank's anti-social killing drink-meister, they make a
couple that is certainly unique. Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni are an
admirable acting duo and the bulk of their performances emerge from quiet
moments and discovery of opportunity, instead of showy scenery-chewing (which is
what Kingsley's Don Logan does in "Sexy Beast".) Most of the time in "You
Kill Me" both actors, especially Kingsley, seem to speak with their eyes more
than with anything else. In the final analysis, Frank and Laurel actually
make a beautiful couple and Mr. Dahl's direction of them and the larger cast is
quiet and discreet, and he displays a wicked sense of humor via his characters
and their scenarios.
The noir-ish elements of Mr. Dahl's past work ("Red Rock
West" and the classic "The Last Seduction") are somewhat muted here, with comedy
and intimacy becoming more predominant and potent. The supporting cast is
strong, with Dennis Farina as Edward O'Leary, Roman's rival in the crime game.
Luke Wilson provides laughs as the fellow alcoholic in San Francisco. The
hit man genre is something that has been made funnier and more touching,
especially with Mr. Dahl's latest film, and "You Kill Me" is all the more
romantic a comedy because of it. Where "The Whole Nine Yards" and its
extra-yard sequel were gimmicky and loopy, there is a serious and off-the-beaten
path to "You Kill Me" that renders it human and perfectly awkward and most of
all, entertaining.
Tea Leoni as Laurel in John Dahl's "You Kill Me".
"You Kill Me" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for
language and some violence. The film's duration is one hour and 32
minutes.
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Popcorn Reel Automatic Dialogue Replacement -- Tea Leoni excerpt interview with
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(2:09)
The Popcorn Reel/Cinematical.com Interview
of Tea Leoni and John Dahl
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