Every now and then, I enjoy a “bad” movie.
I enjoy going to the movies alone every now and then. Out of the 3 interesting movies that came out this weekend, Killers was the one my RMP (regular movie partner) wasn’t interested in. So, I used my points and got to see it for free.
This is the sort of movie you can justify enjoying if you haven’t spent money on it, have nothing else to do, and need a good way to kill 2 hours. Otherwise, I’d just rent it. It’s worth seeing, but not for theater prices. It’s a good appetizer before “Knight and Day” comes out.
The story is this. Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) and Jen (Heigl) meet while vacationing in Nice. She’s been recently dumped and is vacationing with her parents, played by Tom Selleck, the guy with the mustache, and Catherine O’Hara, the lady who drinks ALL THE TIME. He’s a secret government assassin on the job, sick of the super secret agent life, and wants to meet a nice girl to settle down with. Who better than the blond chewing Maalox in the elevator? They fall in love, Spencer quits his job, and they immediately get married and buy a house in the suburbs.
3 years later, Spencer gets a postcard from his old boss, and so begins the chain of events that lead to a bunch of sleeper assassins vying for the 20 million dollar price for his head. The movie turns into this race of who can kill Spencer first. It’s sort of dumb. What’s dumber, is who these people are and who put them there. I really have to fight against my better judgment to give away spoilers here, because it really is quite ridiculous.
There’s some funny back and forth between our main actors, but not once did I believe they were a married couple in love. I believed Spencer when he said he wanted to be out of the life and fall in love with a “simple” woman. It just felt like he did it with the first woman he met, instead of actually trying to look for someone. I love Katherine Heigl, and her performance was good, I just didn’t believe she was in love with this guy for anything beyond his good looks and charm.
I thought Ashton Kutcher was adorable. I can usually take or leave him, but I liked him in this. He was very charming, and he managed to make his fight scenes believable. I do take issue with his French skills. I’m French, and I needed to read the subtitles during his French speaking scene. Sorry, during his attempt at speaking French. I just think he could’ve practiced a little more, seeing how he only had about 5 phrases to memorize.
I particularly liked when, while running for their lives, they had to make a stop at Kmart for a pregnancy test. While in the store, Jen has the presence of mind to ditch her heels and buy flats. Now here’s a smart woman. Why more women in movies don’t do this, I’ll never know.
Where the movie really kind of got “bad” was at the end, about the last 10 minutes, when we find out who activated the sleepers and Jen decides to have a trust circle. That’s right, I said trust circle. Where it nuked the fridge was when Spencer sets up a laser security system in the baby room. Groan, roll credits.