Rating: 
Summary: This is Hilarious!!!
Review: Hit man Martin Q. Blank is in an awkward situation. Several of them, actually. He's attending his high school reunion on an assignment; he's got a rival hit man (Dan Aykroyd) on his tail; and he's going to have to explain to his old girlfriend why he stood her up on prom night. He regrets doing that believe me. I don't wanna ruin the movie for you, so I'll keep this short and tell you to see this movie right now! It is great, it's ike Die Hard meets High Fidelity. 5 Stars is to low of a rating for this movie!
Rating:
Summary: A very funny movie
Review: One of the few comedies that doesn't feel like you're being spoon-fed joke after joke. Grosse Pointe Blank sets you up with the obvious comedic ploy of a hitman returning to his high-school reunion, but that's where the obvious stops.The movie is about Cusack's character coming to grips with emotion. Not his emotions necessarily but emotion as a concept, and how it pertains to reality. He feels it nagging at himself but is unsure or unwilling to admit what it is. His homecoming is a return to where he left that part of himself behind. Cusack's character begins to see himself as justified as he keeps running into people and situations that illustrate the absurdities of everyday "normal" life. Through his old girlfriend and a few others, however, he begins to see the importance of connecting with people. The ending device is rather contrived, but it was really the only way to advance the plot, and very very few movies can hope to escape some contrived story element to make a movie a contained package. Grosse Pointe Blank has just enough ethical conflict, humor, action, and intelligence to make it a very entertaining movie without bogging itself down in anyone of the above too much.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Movie, Great Soundtrack
Review: This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and (as far as I'm concerned) quintessential Cusack--mostly subtle between bursts of noise, melancholy yet ultimately upbeat. I love Cusack as a hit man--not because he seems like an obvious person to play a hitman, but because he seems like the last person in the world to play a hitman, and that's perfect for his apologetic-yet-defensive hitman character in the movie. I should also say that the soundtrack works PERFECTLY, and is worthwhile in its own right. I've never been a fan of Minnie Driver, but he's not horrible as the love interest in this movie, and Dan Akroyd (who I'm not normally a huge fan of, either) works as a hitman trying to get Cusack's character to join his hitman union (or else). A movie full of quirky, underplayed fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A Huge Mistake of a Movie
Review: GROSSE POINT BLANK is an astonishingly unfunny movie, with shallow characters, unbelievable emotional situations, ill-timed and obvious comedic efforts, and the always unwelcome Dan Aykroyd. Even Alan Arkin is wasted as Cusack's psychatrist (a *hitman* is seeing a *psychatrist*! Get it? Get it?). The hitman-goes-to-his-high-school-reunion concept is mildly interesting-- would've been funnier as a five-minute SNL or MAD TV sketch. Here, the movie grinds along for an hour-and-a-half to no discernible satisfaction whatsoever. This is the kind of ... that should be on Comedy Central every other night. John Cusack is always likeable, but isn't believeable *at all* as a professional killer. Minnie Driver's character seems like just a way for Cusack to get his favorite music into the film. I found their "relationship" to be forced at best, and never believed these two belonged together or that real people, hitmen or not, would behave this way. The violence in the film doesn't jibe with its sarcastic, supposedly comedic tone, adding to the viewer's disorientation. The climactic showdown is noise for the sake of noise, suddenly trying to switch gears into a crime caper and failing miserably. This is a plodding mistake of a film, one I found painful to watch (particularly any scene in which Driver and Cusack engage in "witty" banter) and even more painful when I think about how the great soundtrack, made up of British punk, new wave, and ska (the Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Specials) is utterly wasted. GROSSE POINT BLANK is as bad as I thought it would be when I saw the trailer for it in 1997 and avoided it then. I should've stuck with my first impression.
Rating:
Summary: Pure genius starring John Cusack
Review: Martin Q. Blank is a hitman about to attend his 10-year high school reunion and face the prom date he ditched a decade ago. He has people out to kill him as he returns to Grosse Point, MI to attend these festivities and revisit his past. His childhood home is now a quickie-mart, where there is a massive shoot-out (I love that the bullets hit a cut-out of the stars of "Pulp Fiction", a movie rife with shoot-outs.) When Martin asks the store clerk is all right, he yells "NO! I'm scared, I'm hurt and I have to find a new job!" Minnie Driver is excellent as Debi, the jilted date and current radio DJ, who gets back at him on-air. The soundtrack is great, with Bowie's "Under Pressure", the Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun", and great 1980s songs for their big reunion.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie
Review: This movie has so much ridiculous humor in it that it makes it a classic of comedic cinema. Plus, this brought John Cusack back into the limelight in my opinion. Jeremy Piven also gives a wonderful performance as Cusack's old high school buddy. See this movie simply because FX plays it constantly, and you can see it for free. Believe me, it's worth it.
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: There are few movies I can watch again and again without getting sick of it, and this is one of them. The dialogue is sharp, the delivery perfect and the casting perfect. The idea that throughout the whole movie, Martin tells people straight up what he does for a living (kill people) and they don't react in any way until they see him actually kill someone is a hoot. Combined with all of the witty subplots, this movie really engages me. In addition to the fun script and acting, the soundtrack is perfectly matched to the mood of the movie. I can no longer hear any of the songs played in the movie without thinking of GPB, a sign of a well done sound track. If you buy one John Cusack movie, I'd be stumped between recommending this movie or better off dead, but I'd go with this one simply as its a tighter movie overall.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Comedy suits Cusack
Review: Smart, fun, and downright violent as times, this dark comedy was co-produced by John Cusack himself. . . The film fits his reserved image well. The internal conflict within the lead character is great. The Cusack character's psychologist is hilarious. And Joan Cusack is always a great sidekick to her brother. Overall character interaction is strange. . . but in an absolutly hillarious fashion. Good movie, well worth the money, and fun to watch with a group, Gross Pointe Blank is quality.
Rating:
Summary: Cusack's Killer Movie
Review: Ah...what's not to like here...you have Cusack...you have Driver...you have Cusack for a second time in the form of Joan: John's sister...you have Aykroyd...it's all there in cinematic bliss. Let me begin shall I? Gross Pointe, I guess its somewhere in Michigan, suburbs of Detroit the Motor City, home of Rock and Roll, or at least the Detroit-ites may say so. Minnie Driver is a cool local yokel radio announcer with her own stream-of-consciousness style. Martin Blank, played by Cusack, is a professional killer. Now wait right there, he's a professional killer with scruples mind you; he turns down a hit on a Greenpeace boat, so he can't be all bad. Regardless of the profession, he has come to a place in life (it just so happens to coincide with his ten-year high school reunion) where he realizes he is a man without a rudder, without a moral compass, without a woman to love (at least one that he sees daily), and quickly losing his job satisfaction...the joy of the kill, so to speak. There's everything to love in this movie. There's dry witty humor. There's originality in spades. It just reflects the sad state of affairs in Hollywood that this movie tries to be everything...comedy, love, drama, violence. Did I say violence? Well with a professional hit man as the lead what did you expect? Don't worry you Amazonites out there that are movie purists, the shooting and action is all tongue and cheek, all "they wouldn't let me make this film unless I threw in some gratuitous action" purity. If this sounds like an incoherent rant, it is. But then so is Cusack's dialogue spewing forth philosophy, spewing forth regrets and hope, spewing forth unique words and an even more unique take on life. I broke in to the digital age recently by getting a DVD. Grosse Pointe Blank, along with High Fidelity, and Pearl Jam's Single Video Theory were on the short list for first buys. Grosse Pointe stands out (second to Pearl Jam of course...hey it's Pearl Jam) as a favorite. It's not a work of art, though very stylishly done...it's something more: a movie to love and quote. A movie to curl up to and claim at the office...that's my favorite. It's got 80's underground playing along in the background with Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash, Bowie, the Violent Femmes. If you were born in the late 60's, graduated in the mid to late 80's, the movie will take you back with some nostalgia, all the while being modern, all the while making you laugh and fall in love with Driver just as Cusack does. What more can you ask out of a movie? See it...you'll see.
Rating:
Summary: A great dark comedy...
Review: This 1997 dark comedy is a great flick. John Cusack plays a former government agent turned independent hit man who has had enough, and is goaded, by his secretary (played by Cusack's sister Joan) to return to his 10th year High School reunion in Grosse Point, Michigan. This plan is seconded by his psychiatrist (Alan Arkin) who thinks it's a great idea for Martin Blank (John Cusack) to get away from "the business" for a while. There, he's forced to confront the life he left behind. A life that has changed dramatically - his childhood home is now a mini-mart and the girl he abandoned on prom night (Minnie Driver) has become a local radio show host. In the midst of all this, a rival contract killer (Dan Aykroyd) is trying to either recruit him or kill him. Directed by George Armitage and co-written by John Cusack, this is an engaging story that translates well on screen thanks to a great cast. A real find.
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