GROSS POINTE BLANK

GROSSE POINTE BLANK is about a hit man who returns to his hometown for his high school reunion. The movie represents John Cusack’s screenwriting debut, and it takes its time to become likable. The first few scenes are awkward and stiff, and the characters and dialogue stagy and strange. Eventually (and inexplicably), the film finds its groove, and blossoms into a small gem of a comedy.

Cusack plays Martin Blank, a small-town boy who left home to join the army and ended up as a professional hit man. Now, he is twenty-eight-years-old and sick of death and destruction. In his struggle to make sense of it all and to make a new start, he returns home to Grosse Pointe, Michigan, for his high school reunion. Here, he finds the girlfriend he left behind, Debi (Minnie Driver). Regrettably, he is being trailed by: two government agents; his arch-nemesis, Grocer (Dan Aykroyd); and, a mysterious fellow assassin. Therefore, while he is trying to win over his long lost love, he is also trying to fend off these nefarious remnants of his recently abandoned career. In the final confrontation, his pursuers initiate a frantic blood bath as he expresses his undying love to Debi.

The beginning scenes which construct this premise are somehow uneasy, as if the wrong actors have been assigned to wrong characters with a terrible script. Then suddenly, as Martin arrives in Grosse Pointe and reunites with its eccentric populace, portrayed by a host of talented character actors, something clicks. The string of bit players who emerge are each unique and wildly funny. The dialogue suddenly becomes clever, ironic and even erudite. The only sour note is Minnie Driver’s character, Debi. Her eccentricities seem forced, while Driver’s acting is often jerky and stilted. She has either been miscast, or her character is too odd to find a comfortable position. Despite this mild failing, the story ultimately evolves into a hilarious dark comedy as Martin grapples with the juxtaposition of his morbid occupation and his small-town past.

The humor in GROSSE POINTE BLANK is an acquired taste. The film is fairly violent, given its title character’s occupation, and so many main players meet an untimely end. The blood and violence may overwhelm the film’s humor for many. Furthermore, children will not grasp its ironic ending. To a young mind untainted by modern cynicism, the film may seem to advocate the acceptance of professional killing as just another divergence from the mainstream. The whimsical, likable characters and hilarious writing, punctuated by rapidly-delivered one-liners like “Whoa, Chatty Cathy, clip your string!” make this film memorable, at least for adults with a penchant for black comedy.