You Kill Me (2007)

Best movie ever!

A Disappointing Continuation

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) is a hit-man for the Polish mob in Buffalo but the drinking is getting in the way. He is forced to sober up in San Francisco. Tom (Luke Wilson) is his sponsor from AA, and he gets a mortician job. He falls for Laurel Pearson (Téa Leoni) who loves older men because they're done testing.Ben Kingsley is going deadpan acting in this one. He's especially proud of the precision in his killings. It's not the killing that he regrets. It's the lack of professionalism when he was drinking. It's a quirky character. He, Leoni, and Wilson are all likable people. They talk about the craziest things nonchalantly. It's a rather low energy affair. It's a quirky and cute cast, but they're not necessarily laugh out loud funny. Kingsley is too calm. He needs to play up the wackiness.

There aren't a lot of zingers in this movie, not many lol-worthy hijinks, but the overall situation is so unreal you just gotta laugh.First of all, we start with an intense mafia gang war between the Poles, the Irish, the Greeks and the Chinese. Is this 1940s Chicago? No, it's modern day Buffalo NY. Are they fighting over illegal drugs and alcohol trade? No, it's over snow plows.Next you have Gandhi (Ben Kingsley) playing an alcoholic hit man who keeps falling asleep on the job. So what does the boss do? Sends him to Alcoholics Anonymous, of course, with the ultimatum to get better or die.To me the funniest situation is how, while at AA, he meets new people and tells them about his dilemma. They, in turn, support and cheer him along his road to recovery so that he may one day kill again.So you see, the whole setup is the joke. No punchline necessary. What moves it along is a series of oddball characters played by 1st rate actors. Téa Leoni shines as a perfect deadpan sidekick whose witty comebacks and cold-blooded looks are reminiscent of Lauren Bacall. Luke Wilson plays the good friend who supports his buddy despite the obvious moral issues. And Bill Pullman delivers a truly unique character: a mafia real-estate agent who seems more interested in resale value than matters of life and death."You Kill Me" is a cute moral satire that will entertain and amuse you, even though it doesn't pack a lot of huge knee slappers. I would compare it to other quasi-comedies like "The Informant!" (starring Matt Damon as a dweeby corporate executive turned white collar criminal), and "Pumpkin" (starring Christina Ricci as a snobby sorority girl who falls for a mentally handicapped kid).And if you like hit-man comedies, I highly recommend the obscure gem "Zeyda and the Hit-man" starring Judd Hirsch as a Jewish-Canadian mobster with a dysfunctional family.

Warmhearted AND black ? Does that fit together ? In this special case, yes. I've watched You Kill Me three times over the last two years, and I was always pleasured. The idea of a hit-man with a serious alcohol problem is a wonderful solo for Ben Kingsley. Despite or because of his age (he is born 1943) he is very believable and shows some very fragile aspects of his character. The dry, black, likable humor is, despite always present, a minor matter. What matters is, how someone needs and tries to escape his addiction, and how someone finds his love for being alive.The movie has a silent, sometimes slow pacing, with very good music, the jokes are not loud or direct, and there are only a few short action scenes. But it never becomes boring, except the audience expects a different genre. Maybe a name like Jim Jarmush as director would have brought more attention to the movie, as there is a similar sense of humor and weirdness in his works.Sadly, there are a few glitches in the script, where the authors seemingly didn't really know what to do, as f.i. with Laurel's character. How did she manage becoming so dry and lonesome ? She is defined only with a few words about her business which seems to be not so important to her, though she is very successful. She heard many lies from men, and that's all ? Tea Leoni has not many opportunities to shine, but she has a strong presence and gets the best out of her character, which is not easy in a movie created around Ben Kingsley.The ending is also a bit uninspired, although it is consequent.Ben Kingsley has a very diversified filmography since his first success with Ghandi (1982). Sometimes he seems not very selective, as with Blood Rayne. In many movies he is a big supporting actor who saves the project with his bare presence, like Sean Connery did. With You Kill Me he has got his own little movie and everyone can see how good he feels with it (and the other actors, too). And I think this feeling is transmitted to the audience.What I'm really sorry about is that the movie started only in 35 cinemas US-wide, according to box office mojo. The Alcohol addiction theme may be a serious problem for many but it is not taken too easy in this fairy tale. Since movies aren't those big film-rolls anymore but small DVD's, reproduction costs shouldn't be an issue, so, there only remains the distributor's fear of failure. At least I would TRY and not already give up before starting.

Comedy? What's so funny about watching an ugly deadbeat alcoholic attending 6 sessions (by the time I turned it off) of alchoholics anonymous? Set off by a woeful script of grunts and mumbles and drunken slurrings. Served up with lashings of Hollywood's religious "God will Save you" redemption drivel Another Reviewer mentioned the "Sassy dialogue" of Tea Leone - well I managed to watch nearly an hour of this boring film and I still haven't seen any sassy yet - in fact my 80 year old grandmother has more amusing comebacks than Tea's character in this rubbish. Tea is more stony faced and shows less emotion than Keanu - in fact one wonders if she too isn't addicted to something - maybe botox her face is so wooden? Save yourself from being killed with boredom from this film.