Review: GROSSE POINTE BLANK

From           berardin@bc.cybernex.net (James Berardinelli)
Organization   Cybernex Inc.
Date           Thu, 20 Mar 1997 13:35:12 GMT
Newsgroups     rec.arts.movies.current-films
Message-ID     <5gre9d$47u$1@news.cybernex.net>

GROSSE POINTE BLANK

A Film Review by James Berardinelli

RATING (0 TO 10): 6.5
Alternative Scale: **1/2 out of ****

United States, 1997
U.S. Release Date: 4/11/97 (wide)
Running Length: 1:47
MPAA Classification: R (Profanity, violence)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Cast: John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack, Alan Arkin, 
      Jeremy Piven, Hank Azaria, Mitchell Ryan
Director: George Armitage
Producers: Roger Birnbaum, Susan Arnold, Donna Roth
Screenplay: Tom Jankewicz, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and John Cusack 
      based on a story by Tom Jankewicz
Cinematography: Jamie Anderson
Music: Joe Strummer
U.S. Distributor: Hollywood Pictures

     GROSSE POINTE BLANK should come with a warning against 
advertisement-induced expectations which might diminish a viewer's 
appreciation of the film.  The previews and TV commercials make the 
movie look like a frothy romantic comedy.  In reality, GROSSE POINTE 
BLANK is a bleak, black satire that occasionally strays all the way into 
PULP FICTION territory.  That's certainly not a bad thing, but it isn't 
what the marketing people at Hollywood Pictures are selling the movie 
as.

     One of the strangest rituals of American life is the High School 
Reunion.  Even if you recall your teen years with a blissful sense of 
nostalgia, does it make sense to come back ten, twenty, or thirty years 
later to spend one evening with a bunch of people that you haven't 
thought about in decades?  Chances are, you've stayed in contact with 
anyone worth keeping in touch with, and the only reason for going to a 
reunion is to flash your newfound fame and wealth in front of everyone, 
all of whom are trying to do exactly the same thing.  It's a bizarre 
situation of twisted one-upmanship, and GROSSE POINTE BLANK's Martin 
Blank (John Cusack) finds himself enmeshed in such circumstances when he 
reunites with his graduating class of 1986.

     Martin's profession is a bit more exotic than that of any of his 
former schoolmates.  After joining the army and spending five years as a 
covert operative for the CIA (during this stint, he killed the President 
of Paraguay with a fork), he went into business for himself as a hit 
man.  Over the years, Martin has developed quite a reputation.  His 
latest job requires him to return to Grosse Pointe, Michigan during the 
weekend of his ten-year high school reunion.  So, on the advice of his 
reluctant therapist (Alan Arkin), he agrees to try to patch things up 
with his one true love, Debi (Minnie Driver), and attend the event.  
Things don't exactly go as planned, however.  A rival hit man (Dan 
Aykroyd) shows up, and soon bullets are flying all over Grosse Pointe.

     The script for GROSSE POINTE BLANK is laced with acid wit.  Its 
cynical observations about big business, as embodied by the formation of 
a "hit mens' union", are deliciously on-target.  The quirky dialogue is 
often clever, and the film as a whole contains its share of darkly funny 
moments.  There are also a number of subtle sight gags, such as a 
cardboard cut-out of the PULP FICTION cast that gets shot up during a 
gun fight.  GROSSE POINTE BLANK, directed by George Armitage (MIAMI 
BLUES), has an audacious edge, but, at times, the film's daring actually 
works against its success.  Take the case of one particularly gruesome 
murder.  While we expect this sort of graphic image in a violent action 
movie, it seems out of place here.

     There are other problems as well.  The pacing is choppy and 
erratic, possibly as the result of a poor editing job (the four credited 
screenwriters could also have something to do with it).  Sizable chunks 
of GROSSE POINTE BLANK may have ended up on the cutting room floor.  
There are subplots without beginnings or ends and characters that 
suddenly appear or disappear.  There are also occasions when the movie 
goes for inappropriately broad humor.  Take, for example, the minor 
characters who show up at the reunion.  They are the kind of silly, 
overblown types you might expect to find on a TV sit-com, but not in a 
reasonably sophisticated noir comedy.  

     John Cusack, one of America's most likable actors, plays a 
sympathetic anti-hero.  Cusack seems comfortable in the role of a loner 
who's not really as bad as everyone thinks he is.  Martin rationalizes 
his job by saying that everyone he kills deserves it.  He's starting to 
have doubts, though, partially as a result of a contract that someone 
put out on his life.  Apparently, the consequences of not joining the 
hit mens' union are rather drastic, but Martin just doesn't want to be 
bothered with having to go to the meetings.

     As much as I appreciated Minnie Driver's work in CIRCLE OF FRIENDS, 
SLEEPERS, and BIG NIGHT, she has been miscast here.  The statuesque 
actress is never especially convincing as Debi, and many of her scenes 
with Cusack seem strained (especially their first meeting at the radio 
station).  The lack of tangible chemistry between them nullifies any 
romantic tension.  Meanwhile, Dan Aykroyd, Alan Arkin, and Joan Cusack 
(as Martin's secretary) all have pleasantly comic supporting turns.  In 
fact, Aykroyd's performance here is one of his best in a long time.

     Even though Armitage's feature doesn't satisfy on all levels, it's 
offbeat enough to warrant at least a lukewarm recommendation.  
Ultimately, the film offers sufficient small pleasures to make it worth 
enduring the less effective elements.  As a result, while GROSSE POINTE 
BLANK fails to deliver a fullisade, at least the chamber's not empty, 
either.


Copyright 1997 James Berardinelli 
 
-James Berardinelli
e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net
ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin/