Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

John Cusack is one of the true greats when it comes to playing a relatable every-man,  so it should come as no great surprise when he is able to make a deadly assassin fit into the same mold. Grosse Pointe Blank, directed by George Armitage, casts Cusack in the role of a hit-man returning home for his ten year high school reunion and a job, only to take up with his lost love once more, portrayed by Minnie Driver. Others in the cast include Alan Arkin, Jeremy Piven, Hank Azaria, Joan Cusack, and Dan Aykroyd as a rival assassin.

Martin Blank kills people and he is rather good at it, but after an encounter with a "colleague" who is in favor of unionizing their trade and a visit to his terrified therapist (who wouldn't be with a hit-man for a client), he decides to go home for his high school reunion. Blank had disappeared on prom night ten years prior in order to join the army, surprising everyone he knew and leaving Debi, his girlfriend dumbfounded and crushed. Reconnecting with some old friends and, especially, Debi, Martin is forced to take stock of what his life has become and maybe find his way back to something akin to a normal life, though not until he kills a bunch of (bad) people, of course.

This is a film that lives and dies on the lead performance, and, luckily for the producers of Grosse Pointe Blank, Cusack knocked it out of the park. Cusack imbues Martin with regret, a touch of neurosis, a certain amorality, and a deep, icy calm that only seems to appear when someone is trying to kill him, which is rather often. Blank is not particularly torn up about what he does, even if he is a little tired of it: I get the sense that he sees himself as the murder weapon, and not the murderer, which is understandable from a certain point of view. Minnie Driver is charming and appealing as Debi, the girl Martin left behind, though she is a bit thinly drawn compared to Martin. Alan Arkin is very funny as Martin's disturbed therapist, though he is onscreen for only a few scenes. Dan Aykroyd is solid as Martin Blank's rival, though I feel he is miscast as an assassin.

Grosse Pointe Blank's greatest strength, aside from John Cusack, is the whip-smart dialogue present throughout the entire film. Consistently funny and clever, the script manages to maintain its witty tone without becoming overbearing in its execution, which can certainly be an issue in cases where dialogue is written as such (cough, Sorkin, cough). The plot, however, goes from refreshingly unique to shockingly derivative over the course of a third act where all is resolved and everyone good is happy and bad is dead, which is a shame, because it was almost great.

George Armitage's Grosse Pointe Blank works competently as a romantic-comedy and superbly as a vehicle for John Cusack. The film is definitely worth watching, and is indisputably fun, but an uninspired final act prevents it from becoming a classic. Oh, and the soundtrack is pretty good as well (hooray for Ska).

7/10