"Killers" Movie Review (2010)

"Killers"

Movie Review

Directed by Robert Luketic, Written by Bob DeRosa and Ted Griffin, 100 minutes, Rated PG-13

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

I have a pretty strong feeling most critics are going to be very down on "Killers." Their opinions won't be completely unfounded--the characterization is problematic, not much really happens, and I can't really say leads Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl have enough chemistry to pull off a couple that's been married for three years. Still, despite all that, I simply couldn't help but find it to be a lot of fun.

After a rough break-up, Jen (Heigl) goes to France on vacation with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara). At the hotel, she meets Spencer (Kutcher), a handsome, charming and single man just hanging around in France. The two hit it off and we jump forward three years--they're married, living in a wonderful home in the suburbs, and their life couldn't be any more perfect. What Jen doesn't know is that Spencer gave up a pretty heady job for their marriage--he was a hired assassin for the CIA. And now, three years later, there's a hit for $20 million out on his head, and hijinks ensue in their little suburb as all of Spencer's secrets start unravelling.

It's a completely ridiculous plot, but sue me, they get a decent amount of laughs out of its absurdity. Heigl and Kutcher don't quite pull off the chemistry for this kind of couple, but they do play off each other well enough to work out a sort of twisted "straight-man/wild-man" cop movie motif, and they certainly act well enough to make their respective characters likable.

Most of the charm of the film, though, comes from its supporting actors. Selleck and O'Hara are both great as Heigl's parents, O'Hara especially. Rob Riggle, Alex Borstein and Katheryn Winnick portray a few of the various killers out to get Kutcher, and Riggle especially is just hysterical. And though you wouldn't think it, the writers get some really clever gags out of the suburban setting, playing off "suburban Hell" cliches and actually getting some surprisingly refreshing commentary out of it.

The mindless charm really resonates all throughout the film, and really, ones enjoyment of this material will really depend on whether or not you can check your brain at the door. It's completely silly, schmaltzy, over-the-top nonsense, and for some reason, stuff here that wouldn't work for a second in another film like it, just works. I don't know for sure if its the cast, the direction, the solid if repetitive action sequences, or just the mood of the whole thing, but it all comes together into a reasonably entertaining--if a bit flawed--piece of work.

Overall, "Killers" makes for good quick, date-movie-ish entertainment, but it's hard to hold it against anyone who would find the whole thing an unbearable mess. I think this is a classic case of an audience-pleaser and critic-baffler. At the very least, I found a happy middle between them, and this is surely a film those looking for a quick laugh may enjoy with the right mindset.

Grade: C+

View the trailer for "Killers" below.  What did you think of the movie?