Grosse Pointe Blank

Directed by George Armitage, Grosse Pointe Blank follows professional assassin Martin Blank (John Cusack) as he decides to attend his high-school reunion while in town for a job – with the narrative detailing Martin’s efforts at completing said job while also pursuing a romantic reconciliation with old flame Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver). Filmmaker Armitage, working from a script by Tom Jankiewicz, D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and Cusack, delivers a perpetually irreverent comedy that benefits substantially from Cusack’s charming and consistently engaging performance, with the actor’s top-notch work here certainly matched by an eclectic supporting cast that includes Jeremy Piven, Alan Arkin, and Joan Cusack. (And this is to say nothing of Cusack’s undeniable and irresistible chemistry with costar Driver.) It’s clear, too, that Armitage does a superb job of balancing the story’s comedic elements with sporadic (and surprisingly brutal) bursts of action, and although the quirkiness of the movie’s dialogue and performances is occasionally just a little too overt, Grosse Pointe Blank builds to an effective (and engrossing) conclusion that ensures the whole thing ends on a palpably positive note.

*** out of ****