Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

(On VHS, September 2000) A professional hit-man dealing with his ten-year high-school reunion? Funny premise, and even if Grosse Pointe Blank never quite delivers everything we could expect from this concept, it remains a great little comedy. Of course, most of this success depends on the leads, John Cusack as a tone-perfect assassin with faint neurotic tendencies and Minnie Driver as an adorable, but dangerously bitter radio DJ. Both are sympathetic, cool, competent and enormously likable. The film itself lacks the spark required to propel it from good to great (many missed opportunities and not enough laughs from a fertile premise, mostly) but that shouldn’t be a reason not to check it out, especially if you’re a fan of either leads.