Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this dark comedy about a hit man features jokes about death, murder, and extreme violence. The main character's work entails shooting, throttling, and knifing victims, and a "war" between two gangster families leads to shoot-outs with loud weapons. The protagonist, who's an alcoholic, spends time in AA meetings, where discussions range from absurd to tragic to comic. Characters also smoke, drink, and use plenty of foul language. Luke Wilson co-stars, but this isn't a lighthearted movie.
Families can talk about how movies get viewers to feel empathy for characters like Frank who commit crimes for a living. Would you feel the same way about a real-life hit man? What's the difference? Is it OK to make light of killing and violence? Families can also discuss Frank's various afflictions. How might his work make him depressed? How do Frank and Laurel end up being the film's "moral center," compared to Frank's associates, who are more clearly mean, greedy, and vengeful?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) has reached a crossroads. At the start of YOU KILL ME, the longtime assassin for a Polish gang in Buffalo, New York, stands on his snowy doorstep, contemplating a vodka bottle. Though he agrees to take yet another job, he passes out in his car that night, missing the shot at brash rival mob boss O'Leary (Dennis Farina) and infuriating his own boss/uncle, Roman (Philip Baker Hall).
Fed up -- because this isn't Frank's first mistake -- Roman sends him to his version of the hinterlands (San Francisco) to dry out. Set up with Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and a day job at a funeral home, Frank grumps his way through his recovery until he meets Laurel (Téa Leoni). Trading sardonic observations as he cleans up her stepfather's corpse, they find they share a certain wry pessimism and begin dating. He's mostly unsocialized; she appreciates his honesty. When he brings her along to an AA meeting and confesses his profession, Laurel is briefly startled, as are Frank's sponsor, Tom (Luke Wilson), and the other attendees. But his listeners appear to accept his proclamation -- including his desire to "get sober so I can get back to work" -- assuming it's not right to tell on him, since he is, after all, supposed to be "anonymous."
As the film slips in and out of generic expectations -- part romantic comedy, part mob thriller -- Frank wonders about his place in the world. He's always considered himself a stoic man, good at what he does and not given to thinking about it. While Laurel is interested enough in his work to learn how to handle a knife (they practice on watermelons during a happy-couple montage that would typically be given over to walks in the park and pretty candlelit dinners), she also inspires him to imagine another sort of masculinity. When Tom informs him that "an alcoholic's God is a very forgiving God," Frank begins to believe he has options beyond what his past dictates.
Still, he's in a business that keeps pulling him back, embodied in its most lowlife form by Dave (Bill Pullman). A scummy real estate agent assigned by Roman to keep his eye on Frank's progress, Dave picks at Frank's new sense of doubt ("You do what you're told, Frank, you're a victim") and thus moves him to act out in a few ways.
At the same time, Frank is seeing that the way he and the guys do business isn't as effective as it used to be. When an associate observes, "It's like we don't exist anymore," Frank confirms with certainty: "We don't." It's no surprise when he eventually makes a right choice; despite the bloody violence of several scenes, the film's tone is sharply comic and optimistic. But Kingsley, at once intimidating and empathetic, is always a revelation.
Fans might want to see other dark comedies about hit men, such as Get Shorty, Nurse Betty, the wonderful Grosse Pointe Blank, and John Dahl's own The Last Seduction.
Rate It!
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| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentFlirting between Laurel and Frank; a woman appears briefly in a bikini; several discussions of Tom's homosexuality and someone's AIDS test; some mild kissing; Frank appears in his underwear. |
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ViolenceLots of it, ranging from bloody to comic and back. Shooting with handguns and shotguns repeatedly produces bloody corpses (some multi-gun shootouts, some one-on-one battles); Frank's job at a funeral home has him working on corpses daily; ironic "romantic montage" has Frank teach Laurel how to assassinate with a knife (they practice on a watermelon); minor but loud car crash by drunk driver. |
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LanguageMultiple uses of "f--k," plus other colorful hitman/gangster language, including "bitch," "s--t," "damn," "a--hole," "douchebag," "dick," "bastard," "c--k," and "c--ksucker." |
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Social BehaviorAn alcoholic mafia hit man works to stay sober so he can "go back to work." |
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CommercialismMention of Sony. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe protagonist is an alcoholic, so drinking and dealing with it are thematic: He appears dead-drunk at the start, attends AA meetings (which include discussions of other disorders, including eating), relapses (elaborate drinking with a stereotypical group of Irish family members), then recovers. Scenes set in bars. Frequent cigarette smoking. |
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