By Curt Schleier
YOU KILL ME is one of those sharp, intelligent and funny independent films that DVDs were made for.
Why? The difference between studio and independent films is less about quality – both are capable of producing extraordinarily great movies and pitiful crap – but about money. Consider this: if you were an executive with a company that distributes films, which would you spent your time and money on the one that costs $2 million or the latest $100 million comic book extravaganza? And if you owned a theater, what would you want on your screen, Fantastic Four and Batman or a smart small film that you know won’t be extensively promoted?
So I say with reasonable certainty that not only did most of you not see You Kill Me, but many probably never even heard of it. But you do know it now, and you have no excuse not to view this darkly delicious comedy.
Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) is a hit man for a small Polish crime family in Buffalo run by his uncle Roman (Philip Baker Hall). But there’s a problem. Frank is a drunk. For example, as an inducement to clear the snow from his walkway, he throws a bottle of vodka 10 feet ahead of him. He can’t have another sip until he shovels his way there.
Drinking can be a problem for a killer, especially if he falls into a stupor on an assignment as Frank does. So he’s banished to San Francisco and ordered to undergo treatment. He’s met by a friend of the family, a real estate agent named Dave (Bill Pullman) who gets Frank settled into an apartment, a job at a mortuary and a local AA program.
He meets Laura (Tea Leoni) at the funeral home when he’s working on her stepfather. The two are kindred spirits, tortured in their own way and looking for someone to share their lives with.
“Why should I bother (with you),” Laura asks Frank.
“Because you don’t want to be alone any more than I do,” he responds.
“It’s sad, but that’s good enough for now.”
Frank also meets Tom (Luke Wilson) a toll taker on the Golden State Bridge who serves as his AA sponsor.
As Laurel and Tom’s relationship with Frank deepens, the two work hard to keep him on the right track to sobriety – so he can be a better killer.
Frank explains that he became a hit man because of the assassination of William McKinley in Buffalo. The assassin botched the job and McKinley lingered, with doctors unable to find the bullet. This history lesson inspired him less to become a healer but a murderer who kills with precision.
In fact, when Frank got to the step that requires him to seek forgiveness from people he wronged, he isn’t concerned about all his jobs, “Everybody I killed knew it was a possibility.” But he does worry about those victims he treated badly – one that took seven shots to finish off and another who moved unexpectedly as he was trying to slash her throat. “I got her in the eye.”
To make amends, Frank goes out to buy gift certificates he mails to their survivors.”
Eventually sober, Frank returns to Buffalo to successfully avenge the death of his uncle by the head of the Irish mob, O’Leary (Richard Farina). When his sponsor hears, Tom says: “You did this sober. I’m so proud of you.”
Certainly there is a slight sense of déjà vu here. There have been a couple of successful films built around emotionally frail hit men: GROSSE POINTE BLANK and ANALYZE THIS come immediately to mind. But there also have been more than one Western produced. The question isn’t so much is the film’s genre overcrowded but is the film good. And YOU KILL ME is much better than just good.
The casting is excellent. Kingsley is a slightly lighter version of the menacing monster he played in Sexy Beast. Leoni proves once again that she is the most underutilized actress working today. She’s beautiful, has great comic timing and a natural quirkiness that to my mind make her a cross between the Hepburns—Kathryn and Audrey both.
And I can’t say enough about script writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Yes I can. I hate both of you. (Clearly I don’t handle jealousy very well.)