Jerry and Tom are two hit men who engage in clever banter before brutally killing people. This movie has been described as a black comedy. I found it brutal and distasteful. It treated cold blooded murder lightheartedly. The audience is subjected to short, repetitive vignettes featuring the violent ways used to kill the victims. We are also lured in to care for the victim and their plight before the killers kill them. The killers show no remorse for their actions. Are we in turn taught to have no remorse for brutality? Are we to be charmed by the killers and ignore the unfeeling, inhuman treatment of the victims? What did the victims do to deserve their fate? We are never told. Is it no surprise that young people can kill and exhibit no remorse for their actions. To them isn't a High School just another vignette. Joe Mantegna plays his usual Mafia-type hood and Sam Rockwell plays a slovenly, moronic thug who becomes increasingly mean through the movie. This could have been a much better movie if the killings and the various inhumane methods used were kept off screen. We know they were hit men and we know, from their frequent inclusion in Hollywood films, what they do, so why dwell on the act instead of on the story. Maybe the story was the brutality. This movie's celebration of killing and matter-of-fact brutality combined with its light tone desensitizes its audience. We are victims of this movie.
Review of Jerry and Tom
