The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

It's nice to see Bruce Willis returning to his roots in comedy. Way back when he first turned up in the TV show Moonlighting, Willis was known as a comedic actor. After he did Die Hard, he became an action star and it was pretty much forgotten that he could do comedy. With his role in this movie we get reminded that he can be very funny. What's great about this role is that he gets a lot of good laughs by playing the straight man. He uses a quiet understated attitude to make a character who should be viewed as threatening, seem funny.

Mathew Perry is the comedian here. He takes his role from Friends and turns it up several notches becoming a bundle of nearly out of control nerves. Of course he's supposed to be playing an average guy who suddenly has a mass murderer move in next door. This might actually be normal behavior in that situation. Perry spends most of the movie on the edge of a nervous breakdown. His character is constantly being scared near to death by another hitmen in Michale Clark Duncan who is surprisingly funny considering the seriousness of his role in The Green Mile or a mob boss with a strange speech impediment in Kevin Pollack who is also surprisingly funny considering his role in End of Days.

Perry plays a dentist who's new neighbor turns out to be a famous mob hitman (Willis). Willis' character has moved to Montreal to escape his old life. His wife, who will do just about anything for money, sends him to Chicago to rat out the hitman to the mob. This leads to a series of twists and turns that while not always plausible, set up the comedy nicely.

Roseanna Arquette plays Perry's wife in such an unlikable fashion that I was actually hoping for bad things to happen to her character. Amanda Peet turns in a charming performance with a startlingly flagrant and lengthy nude scene. Not that I'm complaining about that scene, I just don't think it was necessary to the action.

I'm mentioning the acting in detail because that is what drives this movie. The characters are pretty well fleshed out and the interaction among them is what stirs up the comedy so effectively. The calm dangerous air about Willis or Duncan contrast beautifully with the nervous fear from Perry.

I'm not saying that this is a great movie. I would be nuts to claim that. Some of the dialogue is pretty weak and the ending takes forever before descending into schmaltz. However it is pretty funny and entertaining. That's really all I ask for from a movie. Expect some light entertainment and you won't be disappointed.

- John Shea

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