You Kill Me


3/4

Starring: Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Luke Wilson, Philip Baker Hall, Dennis Farina

Rated R for Language and Some Violence

"You Kill Me" is another movie where the trailer indicates that the movie is something that it is not.  The trailer makes this movie to be a twisted black comedy with razor sharp humor.  The reality is that the film is primarily a drama with little instances of black comedy thrown in (most of the jokes are given away in the trailer, although not the best one).  Be that as it may, it's still a pretty good movie.

Frank (Kingsley) is a hitman for the Polish mafia in Buffalo, New York.  He's also an alcoholic, and after he passes out drunk before he can take out a rival (Farina), his boss Roman (Hall), sends him to San Francisco to get cleaned up.  There, he gets a sponsor, Tom (Wilson) and meets a girl, Laurel (Leoni).  As he's struggling to stay sober, tensions back home increase the pressure for him to get sober.

Even though this isn't a comedy, the film works because it is well acted, particularly by Ben Kingsley.  Kingsley, a talented actor who will appear in just about anything if the price is right, reminds us how good he can be when he is given good material and works at it.  Frank isn't going to go down as one of his best performances and doesn't nearly match his work in the movies like "Sexy Beast" or "House of Sand & Fog," but he gets us to like Frank, and more importantly, become invested in his success.

He's surrounded by a solid supporting cast.  Tea Leoni (where has she been?) is good as the witty Laurel, the woman who falls for him (despite everything).  Most of the film's wit comes from her.  Luke Wilson is surprisingly good as Tom, mainly because he doesn't seem to be trying too hard like he usually does.  The always-good Philip Baker Hall and Dennis Farina provide good performances as well.  Bill Pullman is uneven, however.  The usually reliable character actor is okay at times, but is usually pretty bad.  The man isn't cut out for dark roles, I guess.

The film is directed by John Dahl, who made waves when he directed the noir-thriller "Red Rock West," and when he directed Linda Fiorentino (who has a reputation for being extremely difficult to work with) in another noir thriller, "The Last Seduction."  I haven't seen either one of those films but they are in my NetFlix queue.  Dahl is a good manager of tone.  It's dramatic, yes, but he never lets it get too heavy or too slow moving.  The film moves, and he allows us to get to know Frank.  But he never allows the film to drag, and as things are getting too heavy, he inserts another one-liner.

I liked this movie.  It's not what you'd expect, but it's still worth your time.

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