Grosse Pointe Blank

 

There is something about Grosse Pointe Blank that I have always loved. Then again, I've always been a fan of John Cusack and there was this sweet time in the late 90's where he was taking a more active role in the films he made, resulting in delightfully off-beat movies such as this one. This one is a mix of romantic comedy, action and black comedy that shouldn't work but yet it does. 

Martin Blank (played by John Cusack) is an assassin for hire who is starting to lose the taste for his chosen profession. He regularly sees a psychiatrist, Dr. Oatman (played by Alan Arkin), despite the doctor's protests (he naturally doesn't agree with what Martin does for a living). He is being pressured into joining a Hitman's Union by a rival assassin, Grocer (played by Dan Aykroyd). To make things worse, his assistant Marcella (played by Joan Cusack) has just let him know he has been invited to his 10 year high school reunion. Initially, he refuses to go but when a contract for a hit comes up in the same town at the same time he begrudgingly agrees to go. While there, he hopes to reconnect with the girl that got away, Debbie Newberry (played by Minnie Driver). However, Debbie has no intention of making things easy for Martin on account of him standing her up on Prom night and leaving town. To make matters worse, Martin has two government agents (played by Hank Azaria and K. Todd Freeman) looking to catch Martin in the act of his latest hit and Grocer looking to take out Martin as well due to not wanting to join his union ensuring this trip home will be anything but quiet.

The film was directed by George Armitage from a script by Tom Jankiewicz, John Cusack, Steve Pink and D.V DeVincentis from a story by Tom Jankiewicz. At it's core, the film has a really great concept to it. A neurotic hitman taking stock of his life goes home for his High School reunion and face his past. The writers and director George Armitage take full advantage of it as they craft their tale with a sharp wit. They also manage the juggle all the different storylines Martin is involved in with relative ease, of which there are several and the do get all the story threads to tie together quite well, even if the outcome is a bit predictable. The film strikes an enticing balance between action and comedy, with the two frequently converging quite well with a level of absurdity to the action sequences. 

The cast of the film is quite good, led by John Cusack as Martin Blank. He does a great job conveying Martin's angst and dissatisfaction with his current life quite well. He also handles the more action centric part of the role quite well, with a hard hitting hand to hand fight with another assassin being a notable standout. Minnie Driver has some great chemistry with John Cusack and adds some fun spunkiness to her character of Debbie, who is similarly at a crossroads, working at the local radio station and living at home. She makes Debbie a bit more unique of a love interest and adds a feistiness to the character that makes it clear she's going to make Martin work for it to make up for what he did back in high school (as she should). Joan Cusack steals every scene she's in as Marcella, giving her character some amusing eccentricities while also being a very efficient and effective assistant for Martin. For example, there is an amusing scene where one one line she is playing hardball negotiating with an arms dealer and then at the same time switching over to a friend who she is giving a recipe for soup. Dan Aykroyd makes for a very unique and eccentric baddie in this who when he fails to recruit Martin he decides to take him out as he would be competition. Aykroyd does  a great job playing Grocer with clearly a screw loose and someone who takes a little too much delight in his work. Alan Arkin is at his snarky best as Martin's shrink Dr. Oatman, and sells how uncomfortable his character is with having a hitman for a patient. 

Overall, Grosse Pointe Blank remains a favorite of mine since it first came out and I can't quite grasp that it's been 25 years now. It has this unique blend of romantic comedy and black comedy that works surprisingly well for me. It's a uniquely offbeat film and nothing quite like it that I can think of off hand. All of this is backed by a truly fantastic assortment of 80's music that spawned two best selling soundtrack albums (because they couldn't fit them all on one) that I have listened to so many times. This is just one of those movies that never gets old and feels just as fresh as it did when it came out in 1997.