For most students, high school is the one thing we’re trying to separate ourselves from as fast as we can.
As hard as it is to lose the one persistent friend who will never allow us to forget the idiotic choices we made in high school, we must burn those bridges in order to take an inward journey and find our places in the world. With this in mind, try looking in the mirror and seeing a paid hit man holding an invitation to your 10-year high school reunion. Director George Armitage holds the looking glass in the sadistic comedy “Grosse Pointe Blank.”
Martin Blank (John Cusack) is assembling his rifle in an abandoned 10th-floor studio. He looks through the eyepiece, targeting a man on a bicycle who is attempting to assassinate a royal figure. Blank converses through his headset with his secretary about future jobs. After pulling the trigger, he is informed of his 10-year reunion invitation. After stern denial, Blank seeks help from his reluctant psychiatrist, who counsels him out of fear. Then, while in Grosse Pointe, Blank encounters all the people he intentionally left behind, as well as a hit man and FBI agents.
The movie exhibits a subliminal humor that would appear hilarious on paper, yet is not quite well adapted into film. In one scene, Blank returns to his parents’ house only to find it has become a convenience store. After brazenly interrogating the teenage clerk, Blank is accosted by a hit man routing the store while the clerk, wearing headphones, plays a video game. As much as this may appear to be humorous, the actual enactment falls short of anything original.
The humor, though frequently ensconced, does rise to the surface. One exemplary scene is the encounter between Blank and his only love, whom he left at his senior prom, Debi Newberry (Minnie Driver). He pays her an impromptu visit at the local radio station, where she’s a disc jockey. While on the air, Newberry asks her listeners to react to their situation and confronts Blank live.
“Grosse Pointe Blank’s” moral: No matter who we become, no matter what we achieve, and no matter how far we travel, the people who shared our youth shall remain as those same youths forever.
2 1/2 Monty heads
