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Grosse Pointe Blank
Buena Vista Pictures


7.2

based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 11 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

The Big Bounce

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: R for strong violence, language and some drug content

Starring John Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Aykroyd, Joan Cusack, Hank Azaria, and Jeremy Piven

In this black comedy, a philosophical hit man (Cusack) reluctantly accepts an assignment in Detroit which coincides with his 10-year high school reunion in the upscale suburb of Grosse Point, Michigan.

GENRE(S):	Romance
WRITTEN BY:	Tom Jankiewicz (also story) D.V. DeVincentis Steve Pink John Cusack
DIRECTED BY:	George Armitage
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 19, 1998 Video: March 1, 1999 Theatrical: April 11, 1997
RUNNING TIME:	107 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

High school reunions should only be this satisfying.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A wild at heart, anarchic comedy that believes in living dangerously.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

A hilarious new addition to the wonderfully warped Generation X-Files.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

A bright burst of action and comedy with a cast that makes for rousing good company.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Smart in a rare way that matters greatly to good contemporary comedy: Like last year's "Flirting With Disaster," its script and direction underplay absurd situations, letting its characters amuse without showing the strains of forced wackiness.

Time Richard Schickel

In its soft-spoken way, it is fierce, shaggy and deeply weirded out.

LA Weekly Paul Malcolm

With a brisk pace and satiric blend of nostalgia and violence, it's the sharpest, funniest comedy so far this year.

San Francisco Examiner Barbara Shulgasser

This movie has the jaunty good cheer of another great movie about hit men, "Prizzi's Honor." And that is high praise indeed.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Grosse Pointe Blank is covering the same kind of territory as that elephantine, if exciting, 1994 family man-killer thriller, "True Lies." But this time, the joke stings. [11 April 1997, Friday, p.A]

Variety Leonard Klady

The zeal and good nature of the cast overcome the artificial quality of the situations.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

As Blank, Cusack is both proud and remorseful. And the amazing thing is that as usual, you believe him. [Oct 10, 1997]

Film.com Sean Means

Armitage, Cusack and his Evanston chums have their work cut out for them to turn a stone killer into a sympathetic romantic character. That they succeed in such a shrewdly funny way is downright amazing.

New Times (L.A.) Peter Rainer

It's a killing comedy for people who have learned to stop worrying and love their iden-tity crisis.

Newsweek David Ansen

A premise this preposterous must be carried off with unflappable comic conviction, and Cusack is just the right man for the job.

The New York Times Elvis Mitchell

Enough wild-card energy to keep it bright and surprising.

Austin Chronicle Alison Macor

A wacky joyride.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

The kind of quirky, character-driven comedy they don't make much anymore.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

An entertaining oddity, an amiably black comedy whose bared teeth double as an engaging smile: It takes a satiric bite and leaves you laughing through the pain.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

This clever and original movie is like a John Hughes comedy for the '90s.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

As black comedies go, Grosse Pointe Blank is just sort of gray.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A slick, mannered and frequently clever comedy.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The film takes the form but not the feel of a comic thriller. It's quirkier than that.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

A bleak, black satire that occasionally strays all the way into "Pulp Fiction" territory.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The picture is a soggy, all-over-the- place mess.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

An unholy mess that becomes steadily more incoherent -- morally, dramatically, and conceptually.

Film Threat Ron Wells

It's damn funny. It's also the best date film I've seen in a long time.

New York Daily News Dave Kehr

The tone remains uneasily divided between lightly realistic character comedy and the darkest, chilliest kind of farce.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.2 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brian F. gave it a2:
John Cusak at his self absorbed best! This movie was nothing more than a pathetic attempt to return to the Better Off Dead success of Cusak...and failing miserably. Are we supposed to like a hired killer, even if he has a overplayed 80's soundtrack as a score?

J. Ryan G. gave it a6:
Sloppy fun, but not very nourishing - like a banana split.

Tiney gave it a 10:
Kicked butt, my favorite movie.

Ruben N. gave it a 9:
I loved it, gr8 concept, and the acting wasn't too bad either.

Mike N. gave it an 8:
A chamingly sweet little black comedy, this minor classic manages the difficult trick of being wickedly amusing, touching and exciting all at the same time. Cusak and Driver are excellent, of course, but Aykroyd and Arkin also do terrific supporting turns.

Pat C. gave it a 4:
There's "Say Anything" and "High Fidelity". Cusack made them ring true. In between he did this tone-deaf over-the-top remeniscence of the requisite lost opportunities of youth.

Daniel E. gave it a 10:
Absolutely enjoyable, great casting, leaves a nice taste in the mouth.

Grosse Pointe Blank Buena Vista Pictures

Grosse Pointe Blank
Buena Vista Pictures