Filmstalker Review: You Kill Me

I must admit that when I saw the trailers for this film and the associated advertising I wasn't that interested in seeing it, after all it was being pitched as a pretty straight comedy and the clips and trailers that I'd seen were far from that.

However the casting interested me, Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni and Luke Wilson, who I had recently seen in Vacancy giving a rather strong dramatic performance. So when I was offered a chance to review the DVD I thought I would take it, and I'm actually glad I did.

Ben Kingsley plays a mob hitman who is also an alcoholic. He's presented with his latest target by the mob bosses, a very important target who he misses from being far too drunk. So he's sent away to recover and get himself sorted out while a new group start muscling their way in on his bosses territory.

While he's away he has to attend AA meetings, takes up the job of a mortuary assistant and through a funeral he meets a lady and becomes romantically involved.

The film is actually rather good, and if you put aside the poor choice in the UK of advertising the film as a complete comedy you find that this is a pretty good film with strong characters, not a straight comedy at all. The film is actually quite a dark comedy that reflects real life a lot more than you would think from the plot outline and keeps the comedy well in check.

Kingsley plays the role really well, he's great at playing a bad guy on screen anyway and here he's even better in the darker comic side playing a morally mixed and confused character. Although this is no Sexy Beast, it is a strong performance and a believable and enjoyable one at that.

He's backed up well by Luke Wilson and Téa Leoni who give good performances. Wilson brings back some comedy to his performance from the last time I'd seen him in Vacancy (Filmstalker review), although just enough to give a wry side to his character. Leoni has a darker satirical side to her character which really does work well on screen and suits her performance.

Leoni and Kingsley actually work well together and they don't seem so awkward on screen as a couple, that's probably helped by the fact that we aren't forced into any atypical Hollywood romantic moments and instead it's played in the same vein as the characters, standoff-ish and emotionally removed.

Director Audio Commentary, Behind the Scenes Featurette, Effects Featurette
Unfortunately I can't rate the DVD extras as the screener I was given did not carry these, that's why I've posted this as a straight film review rather than a DVD review. However I thought it was worth noting what's available on the DVD release.

I enjoyed the film much more than I expected. Once again a UK cinematic release seems to have fallen fowl of unusual advertising as nothing I saw in the build up to the release of You Kill Me suggested the tone and enjoyment of this film. Some good performances and characters make this film enjoyable, even if you could make some comparisons to Grosse Pointe Blank.