Year of Release: 1990
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Tracey Ullman, River Phoenix, Joan Plowright, William Hurt, Keanu Reeves, James Gammon, Jack Kehler, Victoria Jackson, Miriam Margolyes, Alisan Porter, Heather Graham
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
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Synopsis and Review:
After a remarkably successful decade during the 80s, writer and director Lawrence Kasdan, started the 90s with a different genre, his first comedy. The film is based on a true story (or inspired by one), and follows the story of Joey Boca, who owns a Pizzeria in Tacoma, WA, alongside his wife Rosalie. They work long hours, on top of which, Joey also maintains a building that they own, that is filled with tenants. At home they have two young children, and live with Rosalie's mother, Nadja (who is originally from the former Yugoslavia). Unbeknownst to Rosalie, Joey is having multiple affairs with a series of women, something that one of their employees, Devo, has alerted her to multiple times. After a failed suicide attempt, Rosalie decides to hire some men to kill Joey, after much recommendation from her mother. She relies on Devo and his scouting capabilities to discover the right people for it, but what they end up uncovering leads them on a path of nonsense, and not exactly what was originally intended.
Lawrence Kasdan is a great writer, who has contributed to some of the most iconic films and characters of the last 40 years (he has written and been involved in both the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises). His directorial career, though a bit more modest, has some striking features in it. After the success of "The Accidental Tourist", "I Love You To Death" was the first film that Kasdan directed which he didn't write (coincidentally, another comedy he directed, "French Kiss" was also not written by him). The film has a light and breezy feel to it, very much like a group of really great actors coming together to have some fun and tell a lighthearted story. It's unpretentious, but also surprisingly heartfelt and filled with humor, something that becomes even more visible the minute William Hurt and Keanu Reeves show up. Most of the heart of this story ends up being carried by the fantastic Tracey Ullman and Joan Plowright, both of whom excel in their roles, making Rosalie and Nadja both hilarious and, at times, almost desperate. The cast is uniformly fantastic, as is the case in most of Kasdan films, with Kevin Kline being more straight-faced than usual, and River Phoenix taking a slightly different role as the young paramour of Rosalie. It's a film filled with archetypes, but nonetheless, well acted, and worth revisiting.
Lawrence Kasdan is a great writer, who has contributed to some of the most iconic films and characters of the last 40 years (he has written and been involved in both the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises). His directorial career, though a bit more modest, has some striking features in it. After the success of "The Accidental Tourist", "I Love You To Death" was the first film that Kasdan directed which he didn't write (coincidentally, another comedy he directed, "French Kiss" was also not written by him). The film has a light and breezy feel to it, very much like a group of really great actors coming together to have some fun and tell a lighthearted story. It's unpretentious, but also surprisingly heartfelt and filled with humor, something that becomes even more visible the minute William Hurt and Keanu Reeves show up. Most of the heart of this story ends up being carried by the fantastic Tracey Ullman and Joan Plowright, both of whom excel in their roles, making Rosalie and Nadja both hilarious and, at times, almost desperate. The cast is uniformly fantastic, as is the case in most of Kasdan films, with Kevin Kline being more straight-faced than usual, and River Phoenix taking a slightly different role as the young paramour of Rosalie. It's a film filled with archetypes, but nonetheless, well acted, and worth revisiting.
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