I bet he wishes that was a real gun…
I’ve been to one high school reunion last decade, and by my reckoning must be due for one next year. I was a reluctant participant at the last one and in all likelihood won’t bother with the next, for reasons I am about to explain.
I imagine most reunions pan out in much the same manner, the initial ‘boy is this awkward’ feeling that pervades proceedings for the first hour, the bragging morons who use the night to talk themselves up and delight in the percieved failures of others, followed by the inevitable drunken conclusions, fights and ultimately long drives home in more awkward silence. Add in the fact that anyone worth catching up with couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make it anyway and you’ve got a recipe for boredom right there.
This situation is exacerbated for Martin Blank (John Cusack), as he seemingly vanished from the face of the earth just prior to his original high school prom, standing up his sweetheart Debi (Minnie Driver) in the process.
The ensuing decade saw his carve out a career path in the assassinating arts as an expert contract hitman, a successful sole trader in a growth industry. His parent’s would be proud of him if his Father wasn’t already deceased and his Mum wasn’t nuts and didn’t recognise him.
So the only people who know what Martin does – and even that he is still alive – are his efficient and cheery personal assistant Marcella (Joan Cusack), and his business rivals who are looking to team up and form a hitmen union, the face of these gents being Grocer (Dan Ackroyd).
Blank may be finding his occupation a little boring and stale of late, even his shrink wants to end their business relationship and continuously blanches when being told of Blank’s true work activities, (“I killed the president of Paruguay with a fork”)… but Martin Blank is a one man show and wants no part in the union – even if it provides dental. This proclamation angers Grocer, so as well as having a contract and a high school reunion to deal with, Blank also has multiple nefarious characters wandering through his home town of Grosse Pointe.
What a head for radio.
The initial stages of Blank’s stay are reasonably low key, he runs into some locals who recognise him, finds his childhood home was bulldozed to make way for a mini-mart, and discovers Debi is now the local DJ. After he and Debi meet once again Blank feels the spark once more – even though Minnie Driver has a head like a permed pumpkin – and asks her once more to go to the dance with him.
At the dance all the things mentioned earlier indeed come to pass, but there are also the unexpected complications brought about by other hitmen being in attendance and a rekindling of a romance that an entire decade passed by…
Like many films in which he appears John Cusack deserves credit for making things appear to be better than they are based purely upon the audience’s goodwill toward him. That was also what made Hot Tub Time Machine and 2012 more tolerable in recent years.
His fast paced dialogue and thoughtful gaze brings immediate comfort and perhaps allows you to ignore (in the case of this film especially) that he is the only likable person in it. (It is also why a film like 1408 works so well, we don’t mind only one guy being onscreen for over an hour if it’s Cusack.)
If you are a fan of Cusack you’ll probably love Grosse Pointe Blank as he pretty much makes the film his baby, including an indulgent ‘personal best of’ soundtrack. If you are neither here nor there on all matters Cusack you might not be so forgiving, as while he busts a gut as usual to make the film at least watchable there isn’t much behind him worth watching.
Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. A couple of moments and the usual John Cusack reliability aren’t enough to make this more than a middling effort.
