You Kill Me!
Jun. 6th, 2007 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
topazBeing on the mailing lists for lots of local theaters has its perks, like getting invitations to free screenings of upcoming films. Last night ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheesyhill and I ran over to Kendall Square Cinema for a showing of You Kill Me, a black comedy with Ben Kingsley as a hit man going into AA.
Afterward there was a Q&A session with the director, John Dahl, who told us all that we have to go tell all our friends how great it was and how you all have to see it. So that's what I'm doing.
Seriously, it was sort of lightweight but fun. The movie doesn't have a lot of depth, the premise is nonsensical, and the film raises some troubling questions that the filmmakers don't seem interested in exploring. (For example, the "good guys" in this movie are a crime family that goes around shaking down local bar owners for protection money. The writers seem to want us to take this at face value.)
But the dialogue is a lot of fun and the lead actors hold up very well. Ben Kingsley (always worth watching) kept me interested in what his character was going through even though there was very little character development to speak of. Kingsley does not often do comedy, and I asked Dahl what led them to choose him for this part. He pointed out that somebody like Ben Kingsley, who has a very intense screen presence, doesn't really have to do comedy; if you cast the rest of the movie right, everyone else can be playing comic roles and he can be the straight man. I don't think that's exactly what happened here, but the result does work.
And Tea Leoni surprised me with the strength of her performance. This is the first movie I have seen her in, and I have not heard much about her other than that she's a pretty face. In this movie she took a pretty nondescript character and made her dynamic and compelling.
Bottom line: it's a fine choice and you could do far worse if you're looking for something amusing.
cheesyhill and I ran over to Kendall Square Cinema for a showing of You Kill Me, a black comedy with Ben Kingsley as a hit man going into AA.Afterward there was a Q&A session with the director, John Dahl, who told us all that we have to go tell all our friends how great it was and how you all have to see it. So that's what I'm doing.
Seriously, it was sort of lightweight but fun. The movie doesn't have a lot of depth, the premise is nonsensical, and the film raises some troubling questions that the filmmakers don't seem interested in exploring. (For example, the "good guys" in this movie are a crime family that goes around shaking down local bar owners for protection money. The writers seem to want us to take this at face value.)
But the dialogue is a lot of fun and the lead actors hold up very well. Ben Kingsley (always worth watching) kept me interested in what his character was going through even though there was very little character development to speak of. Kingsley does not often do comedy, and I asked Dahl what led them to choose him for this part. He pointed out that somebody like Ben Kingsley, who has a very intense screen presence, doesn't really have to do comedy; if you cast the rest of the movie right, everyone else can be playing comic roles and he can be the straight man. I don't think that's exactly what happened here, but the result does work.
And Tea Leoni surprised me with the strength of her performance. This is the first movie I have seen her in, and I have not heard much about her other than that she's a pretty face. In this movie she took a pretty nondescript character and made her dynamic and compelling.
Bottom line: it's a fine choice and you could do far worse if you're looking for something amusing.
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-06 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 12:26 am (UTC)If you want to see something that explores all the questions this raises, The Sopranos has its last episode next week....although it might not be good to watch that around M and Q. :)
"Dad, there's this kid at school bothering me. Can you get him whacked?"
no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 02:02 am (UTC)In fact, I wasn't really sure that that movie had anyone at all in it besides Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell and Jon Lovitz.