What a find this movie was. Subtle, tense, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny and ultimately satisfying.
Alex lives the suburban dream with his wife and young son. He mows the lawn, drives the boy to school in a nice car and, in deference to his wife's wishes, doesn't smoke (much) in the house.
He also happens to be a hit-man who wants out of the family business, and in to the pants of Neve Campbell. Which makes him, essentially, a murderer and a philanderer. Not that you'll feel anything but empathy and compassion for William H. Macy's character: which, of course, is his genius.
Alex feels dead. He doesn't know why, so he goes to a therapist. Then he makes the mistake of confiding this to one of the people he ought to be able to trust implicitly: his mother. Meanwhile, the 'beautiful young thing' he's become acquainted with from the waiting room outside his therapist's office, Sarah (Campbell), is becoming an obsession for him.
While Alex-the-son is in a three-way scrap with Alex-the-father and Alex-the-husband, and doesn't even understand what's happening to him, his wife (ably portrayed by Tracey Ullman) despairs, his little boy worries and his newfound therapist (a subdued and plausible John Ritter) begins to get very edgy about the way Alex seems to be monitoring his routine.
In a story that explores, among other things, the whole family dynamic, you'll find it all rings true. The context of the story is violent and exotic, but the relationships aren't. For example; your father is probably not a controlling and manipulative sociopath (and, you know, small mercies and all that) but even so, how many of us would find it easy to step up and admonish him, when he steps over the line? Donald Sutherland's marvelous performance as the monstrous pater shrouded in congeniality is a highlight of the movie. He actually had me shouting at the screen. And I'm British. We just don't do that ...
This juxtaposition between the unfamiliar and the everyday is reinforced throughout the film. Alex leans on a wall, shooting the breeze with an acquaintance who's complaining about how hard it is for his wife to get an appointment with her doctor. Next moment, an array of weaponry is revealed in the trunk of the acquaintance's car. Alex is shopping.
Really. Dig this out and watch it. You won't find the experience entirely comfortable, nor will it be an escape from the rigors of the world (because there's too much of the world in the movie) but it will make you laugh, wince, cheer and, most importantly of all, it will make you think.
Alex lives the suburban dream with his wife and young son. He mows the lawn, drives the boy to school in a nice car and, in deference to his wife's wishes, doesn't smoke (much) in the house.
He also happens to be a hit-man who wants out of the family business, and in to the pants of Neve Campbell. Which makes him, essentially, a murderer and a philanderer. Not that you'll feel anything but empathy and compassion for William H. Macy's character: which, of course, is his genius.
Alex feels dead. He doesn't know why, so he goes to a therapist. Then he makes the mistake of confiding this to one of the people he ought to be able to trust implicitly: his mother. Meanwhile, the 'beautiful young thing' he's become acquainted with from the waiting room outside his therapist's office, Sarah (Campbell), is becoming an obsession for him.
While Alex-the-son is in a three-way scrap with Alex-the-father and Alex-the-husband, and doesn't even understand what's happening to him, his wife (ably portrayed by Tracey Ullman) despairs, his little boy worries and his newfound therapist (a subdued and plausible John Ritter) begins to get very edgy about the way Alex seems to be monitoring his routine.
In a story that explores, among other things, the whole family dynamic, you'll find it all rings true. The context of the story is violent and exotic, but the relationships aren't. For example; your father is probably not a controlling and manipulative sociopath (and, you know, small mercies and all that) but even so, how many of us would find it easy to step up and admonish him, when he steps over the line? Donald Sutherland's marvelous performance as the monstrous pater shrouded in congeniality is a highlight of the movie. He actually had me shouting at the screen. And I'm British. We just don't do that ...
This juxtaposition between the unfamiliar and the everyday is reinforced throughout the film. Alex leans on a wall, shooting the breeze with an acquaintance who's complaining about how hard it is for his wife to get an appointment with her doctor. Next moment, an array of weaponry is revealed in the trunk of the acquaintance's car. Alex is shopping.
Really. Dig this out and watch it. You won't find the experience entirely comfortable, nor will it be an escape from the rigors of the world (because there's too much of the world in the movie) but it will make you laugh, wince, cheer and, most importantly of all, it will make you think.
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