You Kill Me Reviews

Frank Falenczyk: It isn't that I'm sorry I killed them; it's that I'm sorry I killed them badly. 

"Love is always worth another shot."

You Kill Me is another mob related comedy. This one is different from the normal one, in that the story at the heart of the film isn't all about mob related activity. At the heart of You Kill Me, it is really a man searching for life in the midst of his alcoholism. He finds this life in a woman. 

Frank is a hit man for a Polish crime family. When his alcoholism escalates and causes him to botch a hit(by falling asleep no less), he's sent to San Francisco to get his life back on the right path. There he starts trying to get sober. He takes a job at a funeral home, starts attending AA meetings, and begins a relationship with a much younger woman. 

I should say now that the extent to which I was able to enjoy You Kill Me is based purely off of the splendid cast. Everyone's terrific, turning a dull movie into a dull movie with good acting. I mean, the story had moments, but there were just too much down time. The laughs are few and far between, and while the writing and directing isn't horrible, it's only average. 

Watch the film for Ben Kingsley and a good supporting cast including Philip Baker Hall and Téa Leoni. I had my fair share of problems with the movie as a whole. It wasn't all that engaging, and it turned itself into just another romantic comedy. But Ben Kingsley's presence was enough to make the movie at least watchable. I initially thought I would fall in love with You Kill Me, but I guess I can accept the fact that I merely found it watchable.

Ben Kingsley, Dennis Farina, Luke Wilson

Frank Falenczyk loves his job. He just happens to be the hit-man for his Polish mob family in Buffalo, N.Y. But, Frank's got a drinking problem and when he messes up a critical assignment that puts the family business in peril, his uncle sends him to San Francisco to clean up his act. Frank is not a touchy-feely kind of guy. But, he starts going to AA meetings, gets a sponsor and a job at a mortuary where he falls for the tart-tongued Laurel, a woman who is dangerously devoid of boundaries. Meanwhile, things aren't going well in Buffalo where an upstart Irish gang is threatening the family business. When violence erupts, Frank is forced to return home and with an unlikely assist from Laurel, faces old rivals on new terms.
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Absolutely loved this movie. Thought I was in for another hit-man movie, but it was the opposite. Loved the dry humor. Definitely a dark comedy, without trying so hard to be funny. Ben Kingsley was brilliant. Loved Luke Wilson and Tea Leoni. She was really funny in this movie. Such an odd thing for people to be completely accepting of Ben's character being an Hit-man, but not his drinking. Just really good movie that I almost past up. But thought since it was recommended to me I would give it a watch. Glad I did.

An alcoholic hitman from a Polish mob family in Buffalo, N.Y. gets sent to San Francisco by his uncle to clean up his act when he messes up a critical assignment, and puts his family in peril.
Frank(Ben Kingsley) attends AA meetings, gets a sponser, and a job at a mortuary which is clearly an ironic place for him to be. The acting in this film is quite good, and is humorous despite the morbid premise.
Tea Leoni, Luke Wilson, Dennis Farina, and Bill Pullman help wind this film into the entertaining tale it is.

Ben Kingsley is the most likeable Hitman ever, this film has such a subtle humour to it, it?s strange to say, but it has a feel good factor about this film.

A great performance from Kingsley as always and a good performance from Tea Leoni.

It?s not the type of comedy where you role around the floor laughing, but if you have a dark side which is drawn to black comedy, then this is certainly worth a watch.

You Kill Me is an odd little black comedy that could've been a hell of a lot more if it wasn't so uneven and sometimes... mediocre. When it was on it was gold but when it was off, the word unremarkable is a very polite way to put it. Ben Kingsley was great and his backup from the supporting cast of Tea Leoni (as the unrealistically supportive and cool girlfriend), Luke Wilson and an almost unrecognizable Bill Pullman. Not a bad movie but I would love to see what this movie could've been. And as a resident of the city, the Buffalo scenes failed miserably in capturing the feeling. We don't all eat pirogies, but at the same time shovelling snow and drinking is better than fucking to us.

I love this idea for a film. Everyone is okay with Frank's livelihood, just not his lifestyle. The very funny script culminates for me in the exchange between a rival hitman and Frank's girlfriend: "Frank's not who you think he is." She then demonstrates that she does, in fact, know exactly who he is, what he does and what he's going through. This movie amused me to no end. I want to see it again now.

A great cast and a great script make this a surprising recommendation

It is a pretty dark movie. "Hi my name is Frank and I'm an alcoholic and my 9-5 job is killing people. Damn drinking messes me up". Nobody seems to mind.

Funny thing, as I'm watching the train scene near the beginning, I realize that the scenery is familiar. This movie was filmed primarily in Winnipeg my home town.

A hidden gem. Grosse point Blank meets The Matador. An wickedly hilarious comedy. Slickly written, marvelously performed and well-crafted. Ingeniously original and brilliant. Flat-out great laughs and a great story. Ben Kingsley gives an outragiously humorous and outstanding performance. Luke Wilson is teriffic. Tea Leoni is wonderful. The chemistry between these three is perfect. A great movie.

Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Frank: I might have to break his toes.
Laurel: Well, whatever gets the job done.

Ben Kingsley stars as Frank, a hit-man for the Polish mob in Buffalo. He is also an alcoholic who's problems are interfering with his work. He is now sent to San Francisco to clean up, attend AA meetings and get his life on track.

This couldn't come at a worst time for the mob boss played by Philip Baker Hall, who is in a mob war with his Irish rival played by Dennis Farina.

Meanwhile, in SF, Frank goes to AA, gets a sponsor played by Luke Wilson in a fitting role, and gets a part time job at a funeral parlor. There he meets with the daughter of one of his "customers" played by Tea Leoni in the perfect role for her.

Bill Pullman is also around, as the guy to check up on Frank, and report back to Buffalo.

This is movie is very good at using character actors to provide the extremely dark and dry comedy.

Kingsley is Frank, he plays him as a hit-man should be, socially awkward, made worse by his drinking, its also nice that he is very forward about admitting that he is a hit-man to everyone.

Leoni is the best part of this movie because of the attitude she usually has in other films, finally pays off the best in this one. Everyone else is also on par in this flick.

The plot is fairly predictable, but director John Dahl does do a good job at building suspense in scenes that require it, especially for a dark comedy, as well as applying a good visual style to go with Kingsley's character and problems.

The movie meanders a little before it reaches its final minutes, not achieving the greatness of my favorite dark hitman comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, but it still gets the job done in having that same attitude.

A funny little movie that wont be seen by to many, but is still worth it.

Laurel: Does it look like I wanna go to fucking Buffalo.

Clever and funny, You Kill Me is an unusual dark comedy that looks at the lighter side of mob life. When drinking interferes with Frank's job as a hitman, he's sent to dry out in San Francisco where he meets an unusual woman who takes an interest in his craft. The film has a solid cast that includes Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, and Luke Wilson, who do quite well with this type of dry, subtle humor. Additionally, the writing is pretty smart (for the most part), and does a good job at developing the characters. However, some areas of the plot are a bit weak and erratic. Strange but amusing, You Kill Me is an entertaining comedy that hits the spot.

[font=Century Gothic]In "You Kill Me", Frank Falenczyk(Ben Kingsley) has a drinking problem that is interfering with his work in Buffalo. The thing is, he is paid to kill people for the local mob and has just managed to sleep through a hit which would have prevented a rival, O'Leary(Dennis Farina), from going to New York City to get financial backing. Now, his boss(Philip Baker Hall) is sending Frank to San Francisco to dry out, or else, under the watchful eye of Dave(Bill Pullman) who gets him into AA meetings, an apartment and a job working at a funeral home.[/font]

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[font=Century Gothic]Directed by John Dahl, "You Kill Me" is about how[/font] [font=Century Gothic]most of Buffalo's population could use an extended stay in San Francisco.(To be fair, Buffalo does have an excellent NHL team...) But seriously, this is an absurdly funny movie about loneliness. It also has the funniest recovery meetings since "Fight Club." [/font]
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[font=Century Gothic]The movie is helped enormously by a great cast at the top of their games. And Tea Leoni is in particular a revelation.(I read at least one critic comparing Frank Falenczyk to Don Logan in "Sexy Beast" but Frank is distinctly more human. Here, it's Tea Leoni's character who has the problem with the word 'no.') [/font]

You Kill Me features a good performances and chemistry between Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni, and some good dark humor, but ultimately falls flat. The script is fairly weak, with a muddled plot line and a general lack of focus. The humor is too infrequent to sustain it as a comedy, and the drama is too dull.

These quirky hitman comedies are always so much fun. The comedy is always so dark and funny, and they are just so enjoyable. But You Kill Me just doesn't quite measure up to the others.

I blame the writing and the acting. The story was slow, all over the place, and somehow predictable. Most people have praised Kingsley's performance, but I found it surprisingly lethargic. The only standout performance was from Bill Pullman, who was very funny.

I won't say that You Kill Me is a bad film. It's oddball and there will be those who will like it. But it's not for me.

A very quirky and interesting film. I probably won't remember it in six months time however.

A story about a very lonely man. While getting better, you get to see how recuperating can change a person, and obviously his life.

The only thing better than dry humor is black dry humor. Such is the humor in this movie about a Polish mafia hitman with a drinking problem. If Sir Ben Kingsley doesn't get at least nominated for an Academy Award as the movie's protagonist, I'll lose whatever little respect I still have for the Academy. Tea Leoni, who plays his love interest, was equally as good opposite Sir Ben. And Dennis Farina, who I'm usually not that fond of, was surprisingly good as this film's villain, an Irish mob boss.

Solid ensemble makes familiar hitman-with-problems story a enjoyably deadpan one.