Movie Friday

This week, I'd like to suggest one of my favorite films of all time Grosse Pointe Blank. The movie stars John Cusack and Minnie Driver and has a great supporting cast including Dan Aykroyd, Jeremy Piven, and Joan Cusack who gives one of the best performances of her career.

John Cusack plays Martin Blank, an assassin who's ten year high school reunion is rapidly approaching. He ends up having a job come up in the area and his secretary (Joan Cusack) is a big proponent of him going. Martin left his girlfriend Debbie waiting at home on prom night and has not seen her since, so he decides to stop by the reunion and tie up loose ends. We can all relate to going to our high school reunions and making that surface conversation with people we barely remember or recognize now. To Martin's credit whenever someone asks him what he's been doing for the past ten years, he always tells them the truth. They always give him some kind of retort like "Wow that's great..." or "How does that pay?" It's hysterical and completely believable. I had 60 of those conversations at my reunion. I also love Minnie Driver. Her ability to do different accents is nearly flawless. She's able to do a standard American accent in this film effortlessly and I admire her skill greatly. She's equally deft at comedic and dramatic acting which this performance showcases.

I can watch this film over and over and I never tire of it. The way the characters banter back and forth reminds me of how my friends and I interact and it's hard to duplicate that in a film without it seeming forced. It's a very funny film and definitely worth seeing if you missed it somehow.

Cuidate.