You Kill Me (2007)

You Kill Me is 2007 crime comedy film directed by John Dahl, and starring Ben Kingsley, Téa Leoni, Luke Wilson and Dennis Farina.

The film was generally well received by critics, but performed only modestly at the box office. It marks the last feature film to date of director John Dahl, before he moved into television directing.

Plot

Frank Falenczyk is a hit man for his Polish mob family in Buffalo, New York. He has a drinking problem, as a result of which he messes up the critical assignment of preventing Eddie O'Leary, from a rival family, getting on a train bound for New York and organising the Chinese against them in town. As this has put the family business in peril, Frank's uncle Roman Krzeminski, head of the family, sends him to San Francisco to get on Alcoholics Anonymous with the order that if he doesn't participate in the AA programme, he will no longer work for the family.

At his first AA meeting, Falenczyk ducks out early and comes face-to-face with Dave, Roman's contact, who forces him to accept a job at a funeral parlour. Through this Frank meets Laurel Pearson, a quirky client he meets at the funeral home when she comes by to drop shoes off for her deceased stepfather. Frank and Laurel start to date. Calling in on his sponsor Tom as he collects tolls at a booth, Frank confesses his job, explaining that he wants to be free of his drinking problem because it's affecting his ability to kill effectively. Meanwhile, as an upstart Irish gang threatens the family snow-plowing business, Frank's cousin Stef calls, unhappy his partner and kid are going to Florida, where it's safer.

When an Irish family have a wake in the parlour, Frank is pressured into falling off the wagon, and in doing so forgets dinner at Laurel's. When the wake is over, he offers to drive a couple home in their car. As Frank and the woman wait for her husband to urinate, she reclines his seat back to kiss him, his foot hits the gas and they crash. With Frank knocked unconscious, the woman lies, saying he kissed her and her husband pulls him out onto a rainy street and leaves him in a puddle. The next morning, after Frank tells Laurel how he fell off the wagon, he takes her to an AA meeting, telling his story for the first time and opening up about his profession. His sponsor Tom is supportive, and the other AA members are stunned, but don't come down on him. On a bowling date, a curious Laurel continues to try understand how he got into the job, and how it all works. As they get closer, Frank shows her his scrupulous records, and he tries to make token restitution by sending gift cards to the families whose loved one he killed unnecessarily badly because he was drunk.

Dave approaches Frank, asking him to do something about a building inspector who insists a building his real estate agency could make millions or be torn down as it's not earthquake safe. After going through some retraining to sharpen his diplomacy skills, Laurel encourages him to take the job. Presenting himself to Supervisor Davis in his office in his underwear, Frank pressurises him, and as a last resort he pulls his gun on him, and is successful in preserving the building. Frank celebrates his homicide-free success with Tom and Laurel. When Laurel chooses not to stay over, Frank falls off the wagon again due to loneliness. Dave comes up to him in a bar, thanking him for his help, then calling him a loser and paying for his drinks. Arriving home, Frank sees Laurel is waiting for him but he hides his drunkenness.

When violence erupts in Buffalo and his uncle and two other family members are gunned down, Frank returns home to face the rival Irish gang and help Stef. With assistance from Laurel, he manages to eliminate, and get his revenge on O'Leary. Frank then returns to San Francisco, and with support from Laurel, Stef and Tom, celebrates getting his one year chip at AA.

Cast

Ben Kingsley as Frank Falenczyk

Téa Leoni as Laurel Pearson

Luke Wilson as Tom

Dennis Farina as Edward O'Leary

Philip Baker Hall as Roman Krzeminski

Bill Pullman as Dave

Marcus Thomas as Stef Krzeminski

Jayne Eastwood as Kathleen Fitzgerald

Reception

The film was well received by critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 113 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "Featuring wonderful performances from Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni, You Kill Me is a charming, funny take on the familiar inner-lives-of-hit-men premise."Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

You Kill Me performed modestly at the box office, returning $3.7 on a budget of $4 million.

References

External links

Official website

You Kill Me at IMDb

You Kill Me at Box Office Mojo

You Kill Me at Rotten Tomatoes