Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Blistering performances.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Blistering performances.

Martin Blank (Cusak) goes home for his 10 year high school reunion. Tracks down his high school flame (Driver) and tries to win her heart once again. The catch is, he's a hired hit man working his last job before hanging it all up. I know right, didn't see that one coming. Wonderful comedic scenes mashed throughout with witty dialog. Nice supporting cast that add an element of entertainment I wasn't expecting. You won't be disappointed.

I keep coming back to this movie over and over... For folks my age (middle age?) it is a movie you can watch again and a again. I am a self-confessed John Cusack junkie, but this movie has more for me than just that.Many of us have someone special from our distant past...this movie gives us the idea (or hope) that all is not lost in this regard -- keeping hope alive is a good thing. The interplay between Cusack and Ackroyd is priceless!Where else are you going to catch three Cusacks in one film?This will always be a go to film for me -- whenever I think there's nothing worth watching, I can always watch this again!

Grosse Pointe Blank depicts murder you see, hear, and speak about, but eventually end up not seeing, hearing, or speaking about. In this way, it represents a genre of film that takes place during the aftermath of the Cold War, then famously referred to as "the End of History." The chimera of civilization means nothing in such a world, shed long ago like baby teeth when entering adulthood. Unlike the untamed frontier of westerns or urban chaos of gangster films, the scenery of this newer Libertarian genre consists of little else than free enterprise and its own built-in default morality: if not "laissez faire Capitalism," what else would you have? The intentional cynicism can only disturb you (even more than the violence in westerns and gangster films), but any sting from its moral slap in your face goes away unless you're Old World enough to deliberately make yourself remember it. Blood, violence, guns, bullets, knives, poisons, bombs, and deft lethal use of otherwise harmless household items all blend into the background like camouflage as the characters routinely exchange recipes, attend their high school reunion, and even propose marriage.Other critiques I've read about Grosse Pointe Blank try to fit it into yet another array of familiar genres: quirky romance; post-Brat Pack black comedy; or pulpy action-adventure. Instead, watch Grosse Pointe Blank again and again and know that it knows precisely what genre it is, even if you're still struggling to follow its rapid-fire dialog and ultra-dry humor.Think of all of our most salient conspiracy theories and how they all start with a square-one premise that in our paradise of free enterprise, murder-for-hire is inevitable. Whether you've met a drunk in a bar who swears he will deliver you the dead body of your choice for $5,000 or you're filthy rich searching for the most competent service by discreetly "asking around," money way too easily buys you death. (For this reason, you might even mention Grosse Pointe Blank in the same breath with Oliver Stone's JFK, especially since Oswald is even mentioned at one point.) Then again, the other unavoidable premise of our beloved conspiracy theories is that the more people are skeptical, the more they refuse to face the unavoidable consequences of the first premise. They deny that murder-for-hire exists. They shrug off a genuine solicitation to murder by that drunk in the bar with a chuckle, even though if they truly thought about it, assassins (whether trained by the American Government or a private enterprise like the Mafia) naturally fall into a guild of professionals much like any other butcher, baker, or candlestick maker.If we aren't denying this in our daily lives, wouldn't we all be writing endless letters to the Attorney Generals of our State and Federal governments to solve these heinous murders, just as John Walsh used to egg us on to do by showing us reenactments of vicious true crimes of homicidal passion every week on television? Again and again, John Cusack as Martin Q. Blank openly tells his friends he's a professional murderer, but they are so numb in their tidy worlds that they shrug it off jokingly or with dull irony. When those closest to him actually see him kill, reality might sink in a little more, but any moral dilemma becomes a mere afterthought when it comes time to help him—your friend in a jam—dispose of, say, a body (Benny Urquidez's unforgettably chilling Felix La PuBelle) in a high school incinerator.Cusack improvises deftly around the basic notion of Blank's coldness as trained killers must do, impersonating a gorilla ("oo-oo-oo") whenever drawing his weapon on someone. Dan Aykroyd (known for his own adherence to certain conspiracy theories) masterfully plays Blank's more conservative counterpart, Grocer, with a more Jack-Webb coldness, imitating the sound of popcorn ("bing-bing-bing-bing-popcorn!") and reciting the Bible before blowing away a victim.Cusack's real-life sister Joan convincingly plays Marcella, Blank's loyal and uncannily competent secretary. Alan Arkin hilariously plays Blank's cowardly charlatan of a psychologist, Dr. Oatman, while Jeremy Piven gives remarkable nuance to Blank's once passionate best friend in high school, Paul Spericki.The real acting fireworks come from Minnie Driver (here, successfully curbing her London accent) as Blank's sweetheart Debi Newberry, whose chemistry with Blank matches all his little deadpan quips with spontaneous quips of her own, while always struggling between her decade of anger about getting stood up on prom night with her genuine love for her mystery man. Hers is the only character (besides perhaps Dr. Oatman) who breaks down and says no to Blank's indifference to life, but eventually must shed this by the end of the film, as she finds her own sense of self-preservation (as the daughter of one of Blank's marked men) and confirms her love for Blank who, after all, is not so indifferent to life after all.So far, such a story would fall flat if there wasn't at least some affirmation of the mystery of life. This comes at several points in the story, but most poetically as Blank stares down an infant named Robbie to David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure": "it's the terror of knowing what the world is about watching some good friends screaming 'let me out.'" The Violent Femmes rerecorded their "Blister in the Sun" for this film (filled with other 1980s hits) with the effect of making it most memorable as a theme song.This essay can only chip at the surface here. I can't praise this film's courage enough, even though I'm sure that even people who enjoyed it and laughed with its sense of humor might have missed the bigger social commentary, which had to be understated to be plausible. At least let's all pray for a renewal of morality in America that ends any indifference to murder, but until then, Grosse Pointe Blank is an extraordinary way cinematically of stating the issue clearly for those brave enough to recognize it.

GROSSE POINT BLANK is a unique black comedy that concerns an unlikely career hit-man who attends his ten-year high school reunion in his former town only to bring along some decidedly dangerous baggage. The film is in essence a 'fish out of water' type situational comedy in which a ruthless assassin attempts to counter his way of life with an ordinary situation which is completely alien to him.First off, I'm not a huge fan of John Cusack and his central performance here left me typically cold. The same can be said for Minnie Driver, stuck in a stereotyped 'romantic interest' type role which has little going for it. On the other hand, GROSSE POINT BLANK does have an ace up its sleeve in the presence of an on-fire Dan Aykroyd, playing a rival hit-man. Aykroyd grabs all of the film's best lines and his scenes with Cusack are the best of the movie.Elsewhere, we have usual rom-com situations enlivened by some sudden bursts of violence. The action scenes are typically Hollywood, in that they're over-stylised and don't really ring true to real life, but then the film does have a second ace: the presence of Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez as an assassin. I never thought I'd see this top guy (who so memorably fought Jackie Chan in WHEELS ON MEALS and DRAGONS FOREVER) in a mainstream movie so kudos to the casting director for getting him on board. In addition, the film boasts a top '80s soundtrack, so it ends up being relatively entertaining for what it is.