kjjames81
What can I say, this film is brilliant, from the start through to the finish, I don't think there is actually one bad scene. The comedy timing is excellent, the action sequences are brilliant, especially the unarmed fight with Cusack and his real life martial arts instructor Benny Urquidez, short but realistic. If you love brilliant timed comedy, action sequences that are well done and a soundtrack that is also brilliant do yourself a favour and watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.
writers_reign
On the whole this is an enjoyable romp which contrives to blend nostalgia with violence and romantic comedy in a fairly harmless way. Lead John Cusack who is invariably good value, scores as a hit man accepting the clichéd 'one last job' before retiring to raise alfalfa, being talked into attending a ten-year High School reunion in his home town in which, of course, he hasn't set foot in those same ten years, after walking out on his girl, Minnie Driver, plus everyone he knew. The weak link in the plot is the fact that he fails to open the envelope containing details of his latest 'contract' until virtually the last moment when he discovers - a touch too neatly - that it is, in fact, Driver's father. If you can get past that you'll probably enjoy the movie.
vostf
The pun in the movie title says it all: Grosse Pointe Blank is a brat movie, a movie students could have written (and shot for a portion of the budget) as a joke and a tribute to their teenage years.Basically the dumb thing that cries "mediocre student joke" here is the discrepancy between reality and fantasy. If you're seriously about to make the best movie possible, you have to choose: to spoof or not to spoof. Spoof comedy is OK as long as everything is a joke and that it runs at Mach 3.9; conversely a serious hit-man drama/thriller is OK as long as you stay the course.Spoof is already aiming at the lowest hurdle, but when you just spoof up an otherwise "straight" drama/thriller/romcom... (you name it) that is just blatantly incompetent. Cusack's fans and lenient teenage souls amongst IMDb reviewers rank this movie high yet the average reviewer is bound to be bored by the tone skids, the "funky violence" shootings that bury the attempt to tell a clever story about an isolated hit-man and a rush of nostalgia. Those shootings were gross and plundered a storyline which already verged to much on the spoofy side (cf. Blank's contracts before leaving for Grosse Pointe).
Leofwine_draca
GROSSE POINT BLANK is a unique black comedy that concerns an unlikely career hit-man who attends his ten-year high school reunion in his former town only to bring along some decidedly dangerous baggage. The film is in essence a 'fish out of water' type situational comedy in which a ruthless assassin attempts to counter his way of life with an ordinary situation which is completely alien to him.First off, I'm not a huge fan of John Cusack and his central performance here left me typically cold. The same can be said for Minnie Driver, stuck in a stereotyped 'romantic interest' type role which has little going for it. On the other hand, GROSSE POINT BLANK does have an ace up its sleeve in the presence of an on-fire Dan Aykroyd, playing a rival hit-man. Aykroyd grabs all of the film's best lines and his scenes with Cusack are the best of the movie.Elsewhere, we have usual rom-com situations enlivened by some sudden bursts of violence. The action scenes are typically Hollywood, in that they're over-stylised and don't really ring true to real life, but then the film does have a second ace: the presence of Benny 'The Jet' Urquidez as an assassin. I never thought I'd see this top guy (who so memorably fought Jackie Chan in WHEELS ON MEALS and DRAGONS FOREVER) in a mainstream movie so kudos to the casting director for getting him on board. In addition, the film boasts a top '80s soundtrack, so it ends up being relatively entertaining for what it is.
AD
