We’ve got nothing but love for this very fun, very real, very unrepentant hitman romantic comedy.
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Story Analysis & Ratings:
Lucy says: 5 Pops ~ A fun story told with affection and respect for a hitman and the woman who loves him. Surprising in all the best ways.
Lucy’s rating breakdown: Craft: 5, Action/Adventure: 5, Romance: 5, Comedy: 5
Jenny says: 5 Pops ~ Finally a hitman-in-love movie that can stand with Gross Pointe Blank and Red.
Jenny’s rating breakdown: Craft: 5, Action/Adventure: 5, Romance: 5, Comedy: 5
Blog Poll Rating: TBD
Read the live chat transcript.
Movie Info:
Story: While drying out on the West Coast, an alcoholic hit man befriends a tart-tongued woman who might just come in handy when it’s time for him to return to Buffalo and settle some old scores. Release Date: July 6, 2007 Writers: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
15 responses to “Ep. 41: You Kill Me”
Ben Kingsley was about 64 when he made this movie. Tea Leoni was about 41.
Wow. I didn’t realize he was that old (or Tea so young). It worked. That’s charisma for you.
64 is not old, says the 61-year-old woman. But yeah, that’s an age gap. They were so great together though. And she knocked it out of the park, I thought.
*sigh* I think I’m the only person who didn’t love, love, love it. But… I just don’t like Tea Leoni in general. She comes off as flat with a side dish of slightly abrasive to me in every movie, and when I saw her come on screen I was all, “oh CRAP.” I like the watermelon scene and the end scene when she comes to AA, but in general I think I would have liked it a lot better with different casting.
I think I’m with Alastair in wishing they not only had a different actress, but an older one. I also don’t really like watching Hollywood relationships where the guy could have easily been her dad (or granddad) either, and I kept thinking, “uh, why is she going for him beyond the script telling her to? ‘Cause other than the AA stuff, I’m not feeling particularly attracted to him myself right now.”
Jennifer – You’re not the only one who didn’t LOVE this film. The age difference was noticeable even to Tea’s character as she mentioned him dating her mom eventually. I will eventually listen to the podcast to find out why this movie was so great as I didn’t see it while watching it.
Also, the poll still says Mr. & Mrs. Smith. So, I’ll wait to vote.
QUESTION: Is “Assassin in Love” the same movie as “The Baker?”
we’ve had a lot of movies that didn’t deliver on promises that they made but i think this might be one of the few unexpected pleasures which came from low expectations. i didn’t expect a lot since ben kingsley is either in REALLY good movies or REALLY bad movies and I don’t generally like Tea Leoni either. Then I saw the movie was 92 mins and I thought, ‘what the hell can they do in an hour and a half?” Turns out they can tell a compelling and tight story in that time frame. It might not have been a story about people I’d want to have dinner with or want to live next door to, but I bet the neighborhood crime rate is pretty low, but the story didn’t have any holes and the characterization was phenomenal. And the humor… I laughed out loud more often in this movie than I did for some of the romcoms!
@Keith, Yea, I noticed that too. They’re the same movie- if you’re looking on Netflix, Assassin in Love is the main title with The Baker as the aka title.
Keith, it was The Baker in England and Assassin in Love in the anvilicious US. It’s streaming on both Netflix and Amazon.
The poll not being up is my fault; it’s there now.
Bad week; I’ll do better in the future. But I really did love the movie. Off to listen to the podcast now. There’s always stuff in there that I didn’t remember. Especially the stuff I say.
Great, thanks. I’ll stream it, so that I don’t cause a shortage in copies of the physical DVD. 🙂
Bonus: You won’t have to look at the godawful American poster.
Are they going for a Pushing Daisies vibe on the US poster? It is FOUL.
Okay, I watched You Kill Me last night, in an effort to regenerate the brain cells killed by suffering through the first hour of the abomination that was The Baker. And I’m glad I did – I really enjoyed it. Very nuanced performances and understated humor. I can see how the movie was probably too quirky for some, and its lack of Big Hollywood Moments probably worked against it in terms of generating mainstream appeal, but I’m sure glad to see smart, clever movies like this still being made!
I went into You Kill Me expecting to hate it–not a good way to receive story–and they had me as soon as he started throwing the vodka bottle. Just a beautiful movie.
I HATE Tea Leoni. But I really liked this movie. Frank is a wonderful character, and I loved his cousin.
It’s funny, tho, because I live in SF I noticed some (very) small errors:
1. The Golden Gate is closed after dark so Frank couldn’t walk it to commune with God. I know because I tried to walk it after dark with a friend a few weeks ago and it wasn’t open.
2. Frank should have taken his overcoat and shoes off at the airport. SFO (maybe all airports?) makes you take them off before you go through the detectors. I just flew home for spring break and I wish I’d been able to just dump my bag on the conveyor and move on instead of having to half strip first.
These didn’t pull me out of the movie, of course, although I did feel like I had some secret insider knowledge of SF now because I noticed them at all. 🙂