On these lazy dog days of summer, I have found myself thinking about movies I really love. I saw this John Cusack classic recently for possibly my sixth or seventh time, and once again I was reminded of what a contemporary masterpiece it is.
Firstly, the film is an off-kilter romance, with Cusack’s tormented hitman, Martin Blank, returning to his hometown for two purposes: to conduct another hit and to attend his high-school reunion, where he hopes to win back his one true love, played by Minnie Driver.
There are so many memorable scenes in this movie — I have never forgotten the conversation Cusack and Driver have in the radio station where she works, 10 years after he stood her up at the prom, when he shows up out of the blue. There’s a moment when the sexual tension between them is delicious as they fight off the urge to start making out passionately.
There’s also a hilarious scene in a diner with Dan Aykroyd, the rival hitman who’s after Martin to join his hitman union. Both are terrified throughout the meal that they’re each going to gun one another down.
And long before “The Sopranos” or “Analyze This” explored the odd notion of soulless killers actually having souls and needing to work out their issues in therapy, Martin was seeing a psychologist, brilliantly played by the wonderful Alan Arkin.
There is so much that works about this movie, from the fabulous soundtrack — each song seemingly made for each scene, and Joe Strummer’s instrumental work is also stellar — to the clever dialogue and hilarious co-stars, including Jeremy Piven before the hair implants and Joan Cusack as Martin’s goofy assistant.
There’s poignancy, too, especially in the scene where Martin goes to a care facility to visit his mother, addled with Alzheimer’s, and all she has to say to him is: “You’re a handsome devil. What’s your name?”
It is, in my opinion, about as perfect as a film can get. And it doesn’t hurt that Cusack was at his absolute hottest and most engaging in this film. I’ll never forget the wide-eyed look of shock that comes over his face when Minnie Driver slaps him mid-makeout session, then the face-splitting grin that spreads across his face as he dives in for some more necking.
July 21, 2008 at 3:34 pm
There’s also the scene where his assistant Joan Cusack makes her hand move like it’s speaking and says “you’re a psy-cho.” I reenact this to my dude at least once a week.
(sorry if this posted 2x)
July 21, 2008 at 3:36 pm
And I loved when she’s coming at him about something and she’s wearing this military-ish jacket and he says: “Back off, Sergeant Pepper.” And you can see them both fight back the urge to laugh. Apparently he ad-libbed that scene and they left it in.
July 21, 2008 at 3:38 pm
If they weren’t bro and sis I’d want them to do it.
July 21, 2008 at 3:39 pm
And they don’t really even look alike, do they?
July 21, 2008 at 3:39 pm
So weird — I was just thinking about this movie last night. I need to re-watch it as it has been years.
July 21, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Actually, now tat you mention it, they don’t really.
I bet the Pivens have a passive aggressive family saying somewhere along the lines of “Always a Piven, never a Cusack.”
July 21, 2008 at 3:57 pm
to top off the perfectness, soundtrack is killah. get it.
favorite quote: “no, no. psychopaths kill for no reason. i kill for money, it’s a job… that didn’t come out right.”
July 21, 2008 at 4:00 pm
and that phone scene above is reminiscent of his role in “say anything” when he’s in the bathroom calling diane court and he’s whipping the phone around and talking all fast. so similar. johnnn.
July 21, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I saw this movie in a teeny, tiny theater in Burbank. Don’t ask me why I remember that.
“Ya caynt com en!”
July 21, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Ceej: I love when he gives her an airplane ride on her childhood bed (they knowingly call it the magic carpet) and then when she screams at him later: “You DON’T GET to have me!!!!”
July 21, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Such a quotable movie. I saw it the first time with my uncle a few weeks before he went to his 10 year high school reunion. It was a riot because he came back from the reunion talking about how everyone looked as if they had swelled…
My sister and I drop that line on each other whenever one of us is stressed: This is me breathing. I am rooted in the me that is on this journey.
July 21, 2008 at 9:38 pm
His work is classic and he brings out the best in his co-stars. Great stuff Trixie!
July 21, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Dr. Funke: I have always loved: “I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork.”
And: “Chances are if I show up on your doorstep, you did something to bring me there.”
I just love love love love it, and never tire of it. You pick up something new from it with every viewing. Piven’s whole appearance, for example, is brilliant.
July 21, 2008 at 10:04 pm
@trix & eskimo: his other sister, ann, is also in the movie. she plays that chicky in the restaurant that drunkenly comes over to him and minnie to reminisce.(“i work at kentucky friend chicken” – “ya do not!”)and their brother (i forget his name) is their waiter. i like how they keep it in the family.
July 21, 2008 at 10:12 pm
also? sniper rifles!!
July 21, 2008 at 10:56 pm
The scene where Joan Cusack is switching back and forth between phone calls explaining a soup recipe and ordering hollow point bullets always cracks my ass up too:
“Carrots and celery are just a base! It’s not a boring soup!”
July 22, 2008 at 9:26 am
I love this movie. Unfortunately I lived under a rock for many years, so saw it for the first time last month.
My favorite scene? Where he kills the bad guy the night of the reunion. God, that was bloody and great.
July 22, 2008 at 10:30 am
That was an amazing sequence, huh? And the way he killed him? And the look that came over his face as he did it? The realization that he couldn’t do it anymore after gazing into the face of that baby just moments earlier?
LOVED that scene!
July 22, 2008 at 10:32 am
Oh, Trixie. I think the first time you and I really bonded was over a shared love of this movie and the ability to quote it endlessly. Hurrah!
Often heard in the Director family: “Look, I don’t want to get into a semantic argument about it. I just want the protein.”
Also: “Ten YEARS, man! TEN! TEN YEARS! Ten… YEARS. Ten years!”
Also: “Well, why don’t I just take the week off and you kill him. Since you two are so close.” GOD I adore Hank Azaria.
July 22, 2008 at 10:35 am
“Should’ve brought my gun.”
“What?”
“Should be fun!”
July 22, 2008 at 3:27 pm
I love the part where he holds the baby and he’s just in awe.
I love John Cusack. It’s unhealthy. In that I own every single one of his movies. No joke.
July 22, 2008 at 3:57 pm
“Thanks for the pen.”
And all you bitches can step off John, because one of these days I will run into him at Wrigley, and he will realize I am his one true love and we will get married and have lots of babies and Joan will be my SIL I will remember you all fondly as we grow old together laughing, laughing, laughing at the top of Piven’s head.
July 22, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Basically, collectively, we know EVERY LINE OF DIALOGUE from this film! I have found my people!!!
July 22, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Aw, Trix, that’s sweet.
You can’t go home again, but you can shop there.