I Love You to Death

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, I Love You to Death follows Tracey Ullman’s Rosalie Boca as she decides to kill her husband (Kevin Kline’s Joey) after learning of his philandering ways – with complications ensuing once Rosalie, along with a friend (River Phoenix’s Devo), enlist a pair of bumbling potheads (William Hurt’s Harlan and Keanu Reeves’ Marlon) to complete the task. It’s an appealing premise that’s employed to mostly watchable yet disappointingly erratic effect by Kasdan, as the filmmaker, working from a script by John Kostmayer, delivers a hit-and-miss comedy that fares best in its briskly-paced, exceedingly engaging opening stretch – with the picture’s affable atmosphere heightened by its smattering of laugh-out-loud funny moments and assortment of thoroughly charming performances. (Kline’s predictably top-notch efforts are matched, and then some, by a raft of scene-stealing periphery players.) There’s little doubt, then, that I Love You to Death‘s overall impact is hampered by a curiously (and palpably) sluggish midsection, as certain scenes and sequences meander and drag to a degree that essentially obliterates the picture’s forward momentum – which does, in turn, pave the way for a third act that just seems to go on and on (and on). The final result is a decent-enough endeavor that generally feels as though it should be much, much better, although it remains clear that the actors’ endlessly entertaining work goes a long way towards cultivating a perpetually entertaining vibe.

**1/2 out of ****