I LOVE YOU TO DEATH – 1990
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Starring Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright, River Phoenix, William Hurt, James Gammon, Jack Kehler, Victoria Jackson, Miriam Margoyles, Alisan Porter, Jonathan Kasdan, Heather Graham, Phoebe Cates, and Keanu Reeves
Genre: Black Comedy (Audio clip)
For all of the acclaim which he has earned as a dramatic actor going back to Sophie's Choice, I have always much preferred Kevin Kline as a comedic actor. And not only is Kline near his comedy peak (still A Fish Called Wanda) broadly playing comically dickish Joey Boca, a beloved local pizzeria owner who is also a serial philanderer but he's also surrounded by a wonderful cast of talented actors each bringing their own unique comic spin to things:
- You have the late, great River Phoenix (in a rare full-on comical role for him) playing a goofy extension of the sensitive persona he had cultivated in public as Devo...just priceless as he leaves a room post-attempted murder gesturing with his hands telling everyone how he has to "collect" himself.
- Dame Joan Plowright playing it perfectly deadpan with a thick Eastern European accent as Joey's mother-in-law urging her daughter to kill him...and treating the whole process as just another project to entertain herself like working on their car.
- After watching him play mostly well-groomed, blandly handsome gentlemen throughout the '80's, the biggest shift was seeing William Hurt scuzz it up as Harlin, part of a duo of junkie cousins hired to finish off Joey...Hurt is all twitches and misplaced words especially when he's first discussing the murder at a local bar with Devo, he whispers "It's still..." as folks walk by then shouts, "Murder!!" 😮
- And you have Keanu Reeves as his equally bombed out cousin Marlin...basically playing into Reeves' Ted/Johnny Utah persona at the time (1990) but even more obviously disconnected as he introduces himself awkwardly to Joey as, "I'm Marlin....um I'm William...William Brown." He and Hurt play off each other perfectly even as on paper, their characters could have come off as depressed caricatures of drug addicts...but they're funny and in line with the overall tone of the movie.
This film received mixed notices when it came out 30+ years ago and for obvious reasons: there is some very dark humor going on here alongside some very broad stuff often coming from Kline's ramped up Italian accent and general vibe....tonally it probably just didn't gel well enough for a lot of folks but not me, I think 99% of the humor just lands!
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
Early on in the film, there is a pretty fun but quick needle-drop at a club where Kline’s Joey is putting the moves on another woman then he ends up dancing with her. Only he’s really just dancing with himself as we see him doing variations of the Locomotion ALL over the crowded dance floor as she watches in delight. Yes it’s Joey devoting SIGNIFICANT energy towards courting some one who’s not his wife….BUT at the very least this woman is played by Kline’s real-life wife at the time (and still today), the lovely Phoebe Cates. The song we hear over this? The high-energy pop ditty from Hall & Oates from their 1980 album, “Voices” – it’s the infectiously catchy “You Make My Dreams.” (Audio clip)
But even more importantly, what also helps the overall tone and energy of the movie is a boisterous reggae-infused score from the late, great James Horner. Now yes Horner DID incorporate steel drums in his more action-oriented scores from the 1980’s including Commando and 48 Hours….so much that it became a calling card for him in his early composing days. (Audio clip)
Now THIS score is something different however…..I’m at a loss as to what the reasoning was behind this as the focuses VERY much on the ethnic make-up of this extended family…..Italians and Yugoslavians….and it takes place in Tacoma, Washington up in the rainy Pacific Northwest. So adding up those factors together, the OBVIOUS route would be to fill the screen with Caribbean music RIGHT? (Audio clip)
Well not really but hey it just WORKS….and never moreso than over the opening credit sequence as we are introduced to the peak lunch rush at Joey’s Pizza, we meet most of the major characters…..we see Kline’s Joey tossing pizza dough up in the air as the credits for the cast spin on the screen…..we’re hearing horns and accordions just going NUTS….and I’ll say this, the pizza looks GOOD too! The whole energy of this introduction to our main cast is just infectious – as far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the best opening credits sequences of the ‘90’s. (Audio clip)
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
With this film’s sprawling cast MOSTLY just going for it….the film’s secret weapon was Tracy Ulmann who was internationally known at the time as one of the best sketch comediennes out there...and she plays Rosalie (Joey's beleaguered wife who just found out about his many affairs) pretty much COMPLETELY straight. Ullman really gives the standout performance not only showing the genuine hurt and pain this character is going through but playing it gently to nicely bounce off all of the much more heightened characters surrounding her. (Audio clip)
In fact….Tracy is SO good here, you have to wonder as to why she never got a meaty role this again at least on the big screen. After the mid ‘90’s, she pretty much stayed on TV with some admittedly strong sketch shows pretty much RUN by her like HBO’s ‘Tracey Takes On….” Though before then, it actually wasn’t for a lack of trying…it was just more bad luck. Ulman was actually cast for two prominent roles for two big budget comedies within the next few years after this: Robert Zemeckis’ Death Becomes Her in ’92 and James L. Brooks’ I’ll Do Anything in ’94. Death Becomes Her would become a hit while I’ll Do Anything would be a sizeable flop. But here’s the thing: through no fault of her own and mainly due to different circumstances related to budget and/or pacing, her characters were BOTH completely removed from the theatrical cuts of each film. It’s funny that you can KIND of still see her in the trailers for both movies and she DID get paid…..but in both cases, you can’t even really see the footage which was shot. Like I said, it wasn’t her fault and by all accounts she was good in both….but as a result of these happening in succession, you can’t honestly blame her for to sticking to TV after that. It’s a shame because we’ll never know what kind of big screen actress she could have developed into…….at least we have THIS movie and performance to show that she could pull it off. (Audio clip)
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
I’m not sure if this is the full-on FUNNIEST scene in the movie but it’s the one point where ALL of the main cast appears together on-screen….and it’s very funny. This occurs about seventy minutes in as Joey has now been shot TWICE – once in the head, once in the chest – and everybody is commiserating downstairs to figure out how to end this situation. And WHO should appear but JOEY who has come downstairs? (Audio clip)
On paper, this scene could come off as ghoulish or just simply ridiculous ….but everyone is playing it JUST right and it’s all filmed in a matter-of-fact manner which just makes the comedy feel more natural. Joey now has THREE OBVIOUS bloody gun shots on each side with one in the back of his head….and Joey gets to meet Harlon and Marlon…and he’s just CLUELESS, simply offering them food with a completely dazed expression on his face. Each character’s reaction here is just PRICELESS but my personal favorite is watching Devo loop behind him to see the gunshot in this back…..and just seeing the haughty, incredulous way Phoenix looks back at Ulman mouthing…something I can’t figure out what he’s saying but it’s funny. (Audio clip)
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
Undoubtedly it takes talented folks all around to make such silliness work…and it’s all there on-screen. But much of the credit STILL has to go to the director for being able to assemble all of these pieces into a breezy 95 minutes filled with witty interactions and memorable lines...for pulling this off with aplomb resulting in what I believe remains his funniest film, Lawrence Kasdan is the MVP. (Audio clip)
Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Streaming on Paramount Plus
And that ends another UNFAITHFUL review!
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