Director: George Armitage
Year Released: 1997
Rating: 2.0
One-note comedy (with the occasional clever touch) about a hitman (John Cusack) who returns to his home ten years after mysteriously disappearing to attend his High School Reunion, make up with an old flame (Minnie Driver) and, of course, kill someone. I really wish I could see in it what so many do - it's one of those movies people have been suggesting I see for a while now - but it did nothing for me: the gun violence becomes tired (as does Cusack's nonchalance) and the humor is only sporadic (Cusack and Dan Aykroyd share a memorable breakfast; who knew the high school brute - and car dealership owner - is also a budding poet?). I suppose my ideal high school reunion is the hilarious Jon Stewart story "Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold" in Naked Pictures of Famous People where people show up at ready to get even with those who wronged them; the only way I'd show up for mine is if someone drugged me, wrapped me up in a sheet and threw my unconscious body in the front door ... and even then once my doped-up person regained partial consciousness it would do its best to crawl the hell away, using bloody fingernails and teeth if need be.