Martin Blank is a hitman for hire. When he starts to develop a conscience, he botches a couple of routine jobs. On the advice of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he decides to attend his ten-year high school reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.
John Cusack Minnie Driver Dan Aykroyd Joan Cusack Alan Arkin Hank Azaria Jeremy Piven Mitchell Ryan Michael Cudlitz Steve Pink K. Todd Freeman Doug Dearth Ann Cusack Barbara Harris Jenna Elfman Belita Moreno Bill Cusack Patrick O'Neill Benny Urquidez David Barrett Lance Gilbert Carlos Jacott Bobby Bass
Buddy Joe Hooker David Barrett Jeffrey J. Dashnaw Ronnie Rondell Jr. Thomas Robinson Harper Stacy Logan William H. Burton Jr. Lisa Dempsey Eddy Donno Kevin L. Jackson Richard M. Ellis David Welch Jeff Brockton Greg Harris Billy Hank Hooker Anthony Kleeman
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Germany16
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AustraliaM
France12
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France
Australia
France
Germany
Greece
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USA
Guy who is better, smarter and more successful than everyone he went to HS escapes the trap of "not being cool anymore" by being a totally amoral contract killer. This may be the most Gen X movie ever made. It's saturated with all of their obsessions with not turning into their boomer parents, ironic self-deprecation, therapy, quirky gfs, and 80s music. The dialogue is like Gilmore Girls for men. It also is pure Gen X as the "hero" of the film is willing to kill to avoid joining a union. Not quite as revelatory as when I first saw it and thought Martin Blank was the coolest man ever. Minnie Driver still an absolute babe though.
96
"If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's, well, broken."
This movie shouldn't work, but it does. Much like Miami Blues, there's a swiftness and cohesive logic that spirals out of its script, tumbling down through incident and humor and action but somehow still landing on its feet, often to the tune of a classic pop ballad and a cute romantic exchange. In the midst of Tarantino knockoffs, George Armitage takes a post-Pulp Fiction premise and fills it with a self-awareness of its own termination date. Like if Vincent Vega came back to check on old high school buddies, and not nearly as annoying as that sounds. Not to mention a stellar (and *very* 90s) ensemble cast. Minnie Driver and John Cusack are electric, and very hot.
Man, I miss John Cusack. I mean.... he’s still around but, his career hasn’t been the same in the last 10 years or so.
Can he just like, come back ? Let’s get him back. Yes. He’s just such a legendary actor and so underlooked.
Let’s all just take a minute to think about John Cusack.....
adulthood is realizing that every single one of the high school friends you thought were cooler than you ended growing up to be just as much of a loser as you are.
John Cusack's heyday was definitely back in the eighties and nineties. He had wit, caustic and sarcastic that always made for excellent viewing, but lately the killer roles that endeared him to millions have dried up. Gone are the days of Lloyd Dobler, Walter Gib Gibson, and The Grifters' Roy Dillon. Those were all characters we loved and rooted for, but Martin Blank for me is the one unmissable role in Cusack's sometimes patchy filmography.
As a contract killer working through his issues with a psychiatrist who doesn't want to treat him, Cusack's Martin Blank is a complex character. After a botched assignment leaves him forced into a job near his former home town, he decides to face up to…
Given how much I love In Bruges I expecting to enjoy this one a bit more.
The script just wasn’t great, and by that I mean the dialogue. The concept is quite fun but the movie’s tone is quite rocky, mostly due to many of the intended jokes falling flat.
JOAN CUSACK STEALS THE MOVIE! She might have 5 minutes of screen time but she makes the most of it, going from 0 to 100 on the phone and she delivered some of the biggest laughs.
Also, I don’t get the Minnie Driver thing, why was she all over the place in the late 90s? She doesn’t seem very charming to me and I don’t find her very attractive.
John Cusack…
"Sorry for fucking up your life"
"It's not over yet."
Martin Blank is a legend, right...? Cause even a professional hit man is allowed to have a semi-quarter life crisis at his ten year high school reunion.
My twenty year reunion is coming up. I may have to take up the life of a hired assassin in order to deal with the fact that it's been twenty years since I graduated high school ☠
A small note about this film:
I miss Minnie Driver.
I miss this John Cusack.
I miss crime romcoms.
I miss stories like this made for adults that aren't streamer movies.
John Cusack improbably pulls off the affable moral bankruptcy/dilemma of his character in this quintessentially 1990s Pulp Fiction-"cool"-derivative romcom, and that improbably makes me like this much more than I think it deserves. It sets up a string of fun ideas that it never quite follows through on, including its central premise--yes, the hitman attends the high school reunion, but the enormous amount of hijinx available to that premise are only barely addressed. And the ending feels wholly unearned.
And yet, Cusack's central performance is so delightful, even when he's just talking to himself, that it's vey watchable. Driver manages a few fine moments with the few solid moments she's given (taking Marty to task on air being the highlight).…
