Killers DVD

 

 

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Spy Retires to Suburbia in Screwball Comedy Coming to DVD

 

                Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher), a CIA Agent with a license to kill, is a guest at a seaside resort in Nice, France where he is busy preparing for his next hit. The dashing sleuth’s orders call for him to scuba dive to a yacht and to attach an explosive to the bottom of a helicopter sitting on the boat’s deck.

                En route to executing the assignment, however, sparks fly when he shares an elevator with Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), a conventional Midwestern gal staying at the same hotel. She’s on vacation with her parents, trying to get back into the saddle after being dumped by her jerk of a boyfriend. Until now, her alcoholic mother (Catherine O’Hara) and overprotective father (Tom Selleck) have mostly been running interference between their daughter and any prospective suitors.

However, instantly-smitten Jen and Spencer agree to have dinner that evening, a date which in fast order is followed by a whirlwind romance, which blossoms into love and then leads to marriage. Tired of the grisly side of his profession, Spencer welcomes this opportunity to leave espionage behind for what he hopes will be an uneventful life in suburbia with the girl of his dreams.

An ominous warning from his boss (Martin Holbrook), that no one just walks away from the Agency unilaterally, bears fruit only after we find the cozy couple settled back in the States. Just pregnant Jen still has no clue about her husband’s prior line of work until he spill the beans when assassins after the $20 million bounty on his head start jumping out of the woodwork.

At this juncture, the plot finally thickens in Killers, a freewheeling farce directed by Aussie Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde). This madcap, action sitcom merges the talents of Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, a well-matched pair of naturals blessed with perfect comedic timing.

The two generate as much screen chemistry as they do laughs, although they’re ultimately abandoned by a script which turns a tad too farcical for this critic’s taste. Nonetheless, the movie is worth it for the cinematic capture of the Southern France backdrops, as well as for the badinage between the charming leads ever so reminiscent of those classic Doris Day-Rock Hudson exchanges in flicks like Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964).

                Send Me No Hit Men!

 

Very Good (2.5 stars)

Rated PG-13 for sexuality, profanity and violence.

Running time: 100 Minutes

Distributor: Lionsgate Home Entertainment

DVD Extras: Gags, deleted, alternate and extended scenes, and a behind-the-scenes featurette with the cast and crew.