Ben Kingsley turns in a solid performance as a Polish hit man with a drinking problem.
Watching Ben Kingsley onscreen is like attending a master's class in acting. No matter if he’s playing a frustrated immigrant (“House of Sand and Fog”) or a cartoonish villain (“Thunderbirds”), his every action, movement and facial expression are carefully thought out.
Kingsley’s attention to detail serves him well in “You Kill Me,” a dark new comedy about a hit man with a serious drinking problem.
Kingsley is Frank Falenczyk, a member of the Polish Mafia in Buffalo, New York. Once the best assassin in the business, Frank’s excessive drinking has spoiled his aim and concentration; he even falls asleep in his car while waiting for his latest mark, Irish mobster Edward O’Leary (Dennis Farina), to arrive at the train station.
Frank's carelessness allows O'Leary and his men to set up shop in Buffalo, so Frank's boss Roman Krzeminkski (Philip Baker Hall) sends him down to San Francisco to dry out and get his act together. To make sure that Frank stays on the wagon, Roman asks a realtor friend named Dave (Bill Pullman) to babysit him.
Dave sets the hit man up in a nice apartment and enrolls him in the local chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. He even helps Frank land a job at a funeral parlor, an appropriate place for a guy who kills people for a living. Because he has no trouble handling dead bodies, Frank fits in quite well at the funeral home.
While on duty, he meets Laurel Pearson (Teá Leoni), a client who is helping to arrange the memorial services for her father. Frank asks Laurel out and, over coffee, he decides to tell her the whole truth about his life, including the drinking and the killing.
Frank also confides in Tom (Luke Wilson), a fellow alcoholic, and eventually unburdens his soul to everyone at the AA meetings. Over time, Frank and Laurel grow closer, but Frank’s murderous past and his bad habits start to interfere with their relationship.
Part love story and part farce, “You Kill Me” is one of the freshest and funniest films to arrive in theaters in a long time, thanks in no small part to another superb performance by Ben Kingsley.
The dignified actor never goes over the top when he’s showing how bad Frank’s drinking can be. In one particularly poignant scene, Frank, while shoveling his front walk after a bad snow, uses a bottle of vodka as a motivational tool to help him get the walk clean.
Teá Leoni and Bill Pullman provide exceptionally strong support as Frank’s new friends. Leoni is especially good in this role and her performance is almost on the same par as Kingsley’s.
A comedy with a very shapr edge, "You Kill Me" goes for the throat and wrings laughter out of some unusual situations.
“You Kill Me” is rated R for language and some violence.
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