CNN - Review: 'Grosse Pointe' a proudly bizarre Cusack showcase
David Perry 
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT
From Reviewer Paul Tatara
(CNN) -- The only reason I'm not proclaiming "Grosse Pointe Blank" to be the worst-titled movie of the year is because, short of "Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay!" (1948, look it up), nothing could conceivably edge out "Smilla's Sense of Snow" for the crown. Luckily, "Grosse Pointe Blank" is a whole lot more enjoyable than its title.
Believe it or not, that title actually means something. The premise is that Martin Blank, a government-sponsored hit man (played, in one of his most engaging performances, by John Cusack), is starting to have second thoughts about his chosen profession. When he receives an invitation to his 10-year high school reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, his perplexed analyst (a hilariously jumpy Alan Arkin) suggests it might do him some good to take the brief vacation and not kill anyone for a while. Martin takes this advice, but his stay in Grosse Pointe will turn out to be anything but relaxing.
This is a proudly bizarre movie, and I think a lot of the unusual tone can be traced to Cusack himself. He's the producer and is one of several writers who worked on the screenplay. Though most people think of him as the romantic lead in "Say Anything" or the incestuous con man in "The Grifters," over the years Cusack has appeared, to varying degrees of success, in an assortment of nutcase comedies. "Better Off Dead," "Tapeheads," and the truly atrocious "Roadside Prophets" are not exactly high-concept career moves, but you have to applaud Cusack for managing to avoid the trap of becoming a poor man's Tom Hanks. He's far more talented than that, and, judging from the audience response at the showing of "Grosse Pointe Blank" that I attended, he may finally be able to put his eccentric sense of humor on the front burner and make it financially rewarding.
There is an intentionally odd tone to this material, as if the characters are living in the same world we live in but they're all clapping on the off-beat. The only other film I can compare it to is "Repo Man," a cult favorite in which auto repossessers jabber existentially about the Repo Man Code and violently debate whether John Wayne was a cross-dresser.
That comparison isn't really fair because "Grosse Pointe Blank" has at least one of its feet planted firmly in reality. There's still a lot of wacky stuff going on, though, and the characters seem to accept it as commonplace. For instance, Martin's secretary is played by Cusack's sister, Joan, who deserves to be a huge comedy star every bit as much as her little brother does. In the opening scene, she wears a telephone headset while reading Martin's mail to him. Neither of them seems to be fazed by the fact that this is taking place while Martin, who is also wearing a headset, shoots a man off of his bicycle with a high-powered rifle. Almost everyone in the film accepts Martin's vocation as a sensible approach to making a buck -- either because they think he's kidding or because it doesn't seem any more vicious than a lot of other modern career choices.
Things seem to be calming down a little bit when Martin gets to Grosse Pointe and meets up with his old high school flame, a radio DJ named Debi Newberry, but it doesn't last long. Minnie Driver (from "Circle of Friends") is Debi, and, again, the casting couldn't be any more perfect. Driver is the kind of actress I like, someone who is funny and attractive but not sleek to the point that she looks like she was sculpted out spare Ferrari parts.
She has a very playful chemistry with Cusack. Debi still loves Martin, but is intent on torturing him a little because he stood her up on prom night and then disappeared for 10 years. That was when he ran off to join Army Special Operations, then found his real calling as an assassin. There's a very funny scene when he first reappears at the radio station and Debi proceeds to interview him on the air about his casual cruelty towards her when she was an innocent teen. Driver comes across as smart as a whip and highly self-assured.
The flirtatious banter between her and Cusack is great, and, like everything else in the picture, just a little off-center. At one point, Martin lies on Debi's bed and playfully lifts her in the air with his feet, giving her "an airplane ride." This is childlike, not childish, and completely unbelievable behavior for a cold-blooded hit man. That's why it's there, though. You can't quite get a handle on the characters, and this makes for loads of fun.
Dan Aykroyd, who hasn't breathed an inspired breath since he did that Bass-o-matic commercial for "Saturday Night Live" back in 1975, is surprisingly enjoyable as a competing hit man who wants to form a union. There's a hilarious moment when he and Cusack cagily circle each other, hesitate, decide no one is going to get shot, then shake hands. It's not long before Aykroyd and a host of other guys are trying to kill Cusack, with the action coming to a surprisingly brutal head at the actual reunion. Back in the hallways of his youth, Martin is forced to use a ball-point pen for much bloodier purposes than writing graffiti on the lockers. There is also a great deal of well-edited, non-cliched gunplay from director George Armitage. Everyone involved here has acquitted themselves quite nicely, with the glaring exception of whoever came up with the title.
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