Grosse Point Blank

George Armitage, USA, 1997, 107 minutes

Meet Martin Blank, a nasty man, a hit man who has little respect for human life. A man still obsessed with Debbie, the high school prom date he stood up ten years earlier. He still has to see his shrink regularly in order to cope with the dreams he still has about her.

Fate sends an opportunity when he receives an invite to go back to his hometown for his high school reunion. He almost doesn't go - 'They all have husbands and wives and children and houses and dogs, and, you know, they've all made themselves a part of something and they can talk about what they do. What am I gonna say? "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork. How've you been?"'

But his secretary persuades him to go. After all he has a job there that same weekend and he has to earn a living. Maybe it is time to go home again.

There are of course problems. His Mum is in an institution, his old home has been made into a supermarket, Debbie does not know how to react to his return - oh and he is being trailed by two federal agents and his arch rival Mr Grocer who wants him to join a union of hit men, and who will kill him if he doesn't consent...

As the film goes on Martin is forced to reassess where his priorities lie. Can he carry out his last job? Will he lose Debbie again?

This is easily one of the funniest films of the last few years. Clever, absurd, witty and with lots of guns for good measure. There is a shootout scene in the supermarket with is guaranteed to have you rolling in the aisles. The cast are fantastic and so is the soundtrack. After all it is an objective fact that the eighties produced the best pop EVER but also the uses made of it are so creative. Who could not marvel at the ingenuity of the opening sequence to the sound of "I can see clearly now"? I'm not telling you any more - you'll just have to go and see it, but it's pure genius.

But then that's a description which applies to the whole movie.

Review by Louise Oliver
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2006