STARS: ***
DIRECTOR: Jonathan Lynn
PRINCIPLE CAST:
Matthew Perry
Bruce Willis
Michael Clarke Duncan
Natasha Henstridge
Rosanna Arquette
Amanda Peet
Kevin Pollack
TAGLINE: Life's a comedy. It's all in the execution.
It's finally happened. After a run in with mediocre films at the box office, a movie has come
out that is actually entertaining and well made. My Cousin Vinny director, Jonathan Lynn,
has comprised a stellar cast and laugh-inducing screenplay into one of the funniest films of the
year. Matthew Perry stars as dentist "Oz" Oseransky whose life is completely in the crapper
because of his wife (Rosanna Arquette) and in-laws. When his life seems to be going completely
downhill, hit man Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudesky moves in next door. After Oz tells his wife who their
new neighbor is, she tells him to go to Chicago to collect on the price for Jimmy's head. In
return she will gladly divorce him (or so she says). Though Oz has no intentions on actually
turning in Jimmy, he has a run in with Frankie Figgs (Michael Clarke Duncan), who works for
Janni Gogolla (Kevin Pollack), the man who has a hit on Jimmy. At his meeting with Janni, Oz
meets and falls in love with Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge), Jimmy's wife. To add to this zany
plot, we are given Jill (Amanda Peet), Oz's wacky assistant who wants Oz to be happy by
simply "offing" his wife. The entire cast is superb. For once, Matthew Perry has wandered off,
if slightly, from his FRIENDS character Chandler Bing. Bruce Willis as a hit man, didn't
you just see it coming? The rest of the cast was equally accomplished, specifically Amanda Peet.
She managed to pull of so many different types of characters all in one, from a
smart-ass dentist assistant, to an out there ditz, to a psychotic nut-job. Wonderful
performances, numerous plot twists, and dead-on script, make this is a great (and quite) black
comedy. This movie goes all out, the whole nine yards! A-!
