Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) * * *

Directed by:  George Armitage

Starring:  John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Dan Aykroyd, Alan Arkin, Jeremy Piven, Hank Azaria, Joan Cusack

Martin Q. Blank (Cusack) is a professional assassin whose business is flourishing even though the work is weighing on him.    Something just seems...off.    Is his conscience getting to him?   Is he still regretful about standing up his girlfriend at the senior prom ten years earlier and vanishing?    Yes and no.   His therapist Dr. Oatman (Arkin) isn't much help because he fears Martin.   "I have an emotional attachment to you.  I'm actively afraid of you," the petrified doctor tells Martin, who thinks his stories of his kills should be covered under doctor/patient privilege.

Martin's assistant (played by John's real-life sister Joan) suggests he kill two birds with one stone by taking an assignment in Detroit and also attend his 10-year high school reunion in nearby Grosse Pointe.    "You could network," she tells Martin.   Martin replies, "You know what I do for a living,"   He raises a good point.    His profession does not lend itself to idle chatter at class reunions.   ("I killed the President of Paraguay, what do you do?")

When Martin returns to Grosse Pointe, his former flame Debi (Driver), now a radio DJ, isn't exactly thrilled to see him.  He did stand her up ten years ago after all.  A convenience store now stands where his childhood home was, and he has hit men after him led by rival/frenemy Arnold Grocer (Aykroyd), who thinks assassins should form their own union.   Then, there is the assignment, which lends itself to other logistical and emotional twists for Martin.

Grosse Pointe Blank is an offbeat comedy with characters who are all edges and elbows.    Martin is conflicted and smart.   Debi is still heartbroken and not a pushover when Martin tries to charm his way back into her life.    Grocer is a professional rival who greets Martin with a hand on his weapon just in case they decide to shoot each other, but he really would like Martin to sign off on joining his proposed union.    And what can Dr. Oatman give as advice to a hired killer except, "Don't kill anyone today"?

The material plays to Cusack's strengths, which is fitting because he co-wrote the screenplay.   Cusack is at his strongest playing characters who are verbally adept and appear to always be thinking and analyzing their own motives.    Not only is he filled with angst, he can tell you all about it in ways which keep us interested.   The reunion is a confluence of Martin's personal and professional life coming together in brutal ways, including stabbing a would-be assassin in the neck with a classmate's pen. 

The movie manages to blend romantic comedy and a violent shoot-'em-up mostly successfully, and these are not two genres we would expect to go together smoothly.    But because Grosse Pointe Blank has a cynical edge to it, with its characters walking on the edge of darkness for most of its duration, it creates a unique comic and near-tragic experience all in one.