Writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have had success with such collaborations as 'The Chronicles of Narnia' and 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers', proving their skills, and yet in this strange amalgam of serious versus romantic versus dark comedy they have created a series of vignettes loosely tied together and named it YOU KILL ME. The film as directed by John Dahl (aided by a superb cluster of fine actors) almost works despite itself, but in the end the audience is left wondering just what the purpose of the fragmented nature of the story was! The story begins in Buffalo, NY where the Irish gang is coercing the Chinese gang to join forces against the rapidly diminishing Polish gang. The head man for the Polish is Roman Krzeminski (Philip Baker Hall) aided by Stef Czyprynski (Marcus Thomas) both of whom rely on their hit man Frank Falenczyk (Ben Kingsley) - an aging alcoholic who lately has had too many missed or messy deaths because of his constant state of inebriation. Roman feels the pinch as Irish gang leader Edward O'Leary (Dennis Farina) escapes being snuffed by Frank, and Frank is sent to San Francisco to dry out and shape up. In San Francisco, Frank is monitored by Dave (Bill Pullman) who finds Frank a job in a funeral home making up corpses and forces Frank into AA meetings. Gradually Frank gets sober, only to meet a woman Laurel (Téa Leoni) who is also a bit beaten by her own demons. They form a fragile and odd relationship, each for some reason feeling the need to mutually open up - a new experience for both. Frank's AA sponsor Tom (Luke Wilson) adds to the growing away from alcohol process and also aids Frank in his attraction to Laurel. Lapses into booze occur and Frank finally feels he is a failure and returns to Buffalo to resume his 'work', but to his surprise, the changes that occurred in San Francisco follow him - in a good way.
Even with the Cuisinart-blended fragments of a story, the cast is so strong that the film works. Kingsley is convincing, Leoni is superb, and the rest of the ensemble rises to the occasion with the little screen time they are given. And while the movie feels like a spoof on AA meetings and a spoof on organized crime and on funeral parlor secrets, in the end it seems like a fairly solid love story - albeit a weird one. YOU KILL ME is an acquired taste. Grady Harp
Even with the Cuisinart-blended fragments of a story, the cast is so strong that the film works. Kingsley is convincing, Leoni is superb, and the rest of the ensemble rises to the occasion with the little screen time they are given. And while the movie feels like a spoof on AA meetings and a spoof on organized crime and on funeral parlor secrets, in the end it seems like a fairly solid love story - albeit a weird one. YOU KILL ME is an acquired taste. Grady Harp