You Kill Me
Added 3/5/2010
Frank Falenczyk loves his job. He just happens to be the hit-man for his Polish mob family in Buffalo, New York. But Frank's got a drinking problem and when he messes up a critical assignment that puts the family business in peril, his uncle sends him to San Francisco to clean up his act. Frank is not a touchy-feely kind of guy, but he starts going to AA meetings, gets a sponsor and a job at a mortuary where he falls for the tart-tongued Laurel, a woman who is dangerously devoid of boundaries. Meanwhile, things aren't going well in Buffalo where an upstart Irish gang is threatening the family business. When violence erupts, Frank is forced to return home and with an unlikely assist from Laurel, faces old rivals on new terms. "You Kill Me" is as dark a comedy as you can get. This movie 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. This movie is very funny with many laughs. The comedy emerges from the situations as everyone in the movie plays it straight as if it were a drama. An edgy comedy drama.
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this is funny?
Added 12/23/2009
AA and 12 step programs for aging hit men, so they can go back
to killing people? There is something really decadent
about a society where this is funny.
I suppose a CIA black ops secret agent could be substituted here for a hit man
and get nearly the same effect?
Next, you will have children's cartoon series about hit men for the mob?
The self-predation of modern man may be his worse fault
and probably his most fatal.
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Funny and dark
Added 9/2/2009
I really enjoyed this movie. Ben Kingsley is great (as usual) and Tia Leone is very good in the role. It is a bizarre storyline and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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You Bore Me
Added 7/12/2009
This DVD was a waste of plastic and Luke Wilson.
The big problem is the script. In fact, I have trouble understanding how this movie even got made unless the actors all agreed to do it on a dare at some LA pool party where they were all equally sloshed. The characters are flimsy and quirky to the point of insanity, with no explanations offered. If the plot isn't 100% predictable, that's only because you'll be too shocked while it rapes your prefrontal cortex to think ahead.
And what's wrong with Ben Kingsley? For some reason he plays a socially challenged gas attendant instead of a contract killer. His performance reminded me of an amalgamation of the certain type of quiet sociopath I meet at DMVs and bus stops, and Kingsley's portrayal is as fun to watch as it is to get a license renewal out of his real life counterpart. The difference with You Kill Me is you are stuck with him for an hour and a half.
In summation: the absurdist twists are neither interesting nor ridiculous enough to be funny, and since the plot has no redeeming value in and of itself, this makes for a movie as entertaining* as watching Ben Kingsley work through a bout of troubling constipation.
I give this movie two stars because the cinematography is absolutely brilliant. Whoever worked the exposure levels on those cameras deserves an award, especially since they were subject to untold takes of Kingsley's Simple Jack (Tropic Thunder reference; you're probably better off seeing that).
*Not actually that entertaining.
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The Good & Bad Of 'You Kill Me'
Added 7/1/2009
This was an interesting film, start-to-finish, with a little action, romance, humor, melodrama, suspense....a good combination of a lot of things. The acting is good, led by the always-fascinating Ben Kingsley who plays the lead role.
There was a good contrast in the areas: the snowy cold of winter in Buffalo and the dry and brighter look of San Francisco. I like the supporting actors in here, beginning with Dennis Farina as "O'Leary." He's another actor that always gets your attention. The movie also gives a nice plug for Alcoholics Anonymous. I kept waiting the smart remarks about it, but they surprised me on that one. Respect was given for the no-nonsense approach given by that famous organization which has helped a lot of people.
Even though it's "dark humor," the message said in here that being an alcoholic is a more serious problem than being a hit-man is a little far out. Tea Leoni's character was stupid and too profane. Also, being from the Buffalo area, I didn't care for the cheap shots on the city, either. People here are tired of that.
Overall, this is a strange film,and not surprising it wasn't a hit with the public. But, if you like something different, something a little "dark" yet romantic, you'd probably like this film. It's quirky, which seems to be the kinds of films Kingsley has been doing the past decade ("Sexy Beast," "House Of Sand And Fog," etc.)
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