Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

This pet project for star, co-writer, and producer John Cusack follows Martin Blank- a former CIA operative turned freelance assassin. He's generally good at his job, and it pays well, but lately his game has been a bit off, and he's starting to tire of it. Following the advice of his secretary and his nervous psychiatrist, he is urged to take a final job in his old hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Incidentally, the time of the job coincides with his 10 year high school reunion, and, while he's not exactly excited about it, this gives him the opportunity to tie up loose ends with his past, namely reconciling with his school love whom he stood up on prom night and hasn't seen since. On top of all of that, he's got people out to kill him, and is being hounded by his persistent arch rival hitman who has an enticing business offer, and won't take no for an answer.

Man, for a romantic action comedy, that sure is one hefty plot! Thankfully the film goes down quite easy, and doesn't end up being quite as laborious and complicated as I've no doubt made it sound. It's breezy, funny (sometimes downright hilarious), quite charming, and feverishly entertaining. Yeah, there's a lot of cliched stuff going on here, but it blends together pretty decently, even though the film could have probably found a way to end that didn't involve delving into a typical action movie climax.

It does have a quite snazzy soundtrack though, and the score was done by Joe Strummer, so that's all awesome. John Cusack delivers a typically solid performance full of his trademark mix of charm, likability, and neuroses. His sister Joan is a scene stealing riot as the secretary, Alan Arkin is a lot of fun as the psychiatrist, Dan Aykroyd is wickedly funny as Martin's rival, and then finally we have Minnie Driver as the old flame Debi. A lot of people seem to not like her, but I think she's a decent actress, fairly attractive, and does decently here as the spurned woman with an understandable grudge.

The film really isn't groundbreaking, but it is quite well played and never dull. It's primarily a comedy, but the action is done decently too, with my favorite setpiece being the amazingly funny shootout at a convenience store.

Overall, this is a nice little entertaining gem. It's definitely a quirky 90s movie, and though it is flawed, it's still an enjoyable ride.