A popular phrase in the past two decades -- with murky, nonsports origins and which some say has to do with the lengths and heights prisoners have to traverse to escape a penitentiary -- "The Whole Nine Yards" is everything its premise promises: a light-and-dark comedy that would probably be in trouble if it was titled "The Whole Ball of Wax".
Warner Bros. has another gangsters-among-us commercial hit, thanks to the efficient direction of Jonathan Lynn ("Trial and Error"), enthusiastic comedic performances by leads Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis and a snappy, fast-moving screenplay credited to Mitchell Kapner (the upcoming "Romeo Must Die"). The public's appetite for such fare -- from last year's big Warner Bros. hit "Analyze This" to "The Sopranos" -- appears to be insatiable, so expect this one to run away with the whole caboose when it opens wide for Presidents Day weekend.
American everyloser Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (Perry) is a Montreal dentist whose tres bitchy, French-speaking wife Sophie (Rosanna Arquette) has ruined his life in many important ways. But he seems to be a naturally upbeat kind of guy. At lunch with his tres perky, sexy-talking assistant Jill (Amanda Peet), we learn that he's frustrated and suppressing anger, which comes out when he can't get a sandwich served without mayonnaise. Living in a generic suburb, Oz is understandably scared witless when he discovers that his new neighbor is a notorious hitman from Chicago, Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Willis), who betrayed his employers and is hiding out.
While the filmmakers know that the subgenre of crime comedies works best when the underworld types kill "for real" and risk being killed, it also pays off to have a halfway credible setup. That doesn't happen here, but Perry and Willis help the movie shuffle around its most rocky obstacles, like how Sophie gets Oz to go to Chicago to collect a "finder's fee" from the Hungarian gang out for revenge against Jimmy.
The ongoing dynamic of the movie is how everyone but Oz has plans to kill someone for money or career advancement. Lusting after his insurance policy payout, Sophie also wants Oz dead and puts the moves on Jimmy. In Chicago, Oz is immediately approached and beat up by the imposing Frankie Figs Michael Clarke Duncan).
When he's brought to face Janni (Kevin Pollak), the head of the Gogolak Gang, Oz starts to have second thoughts about betraying Jimmy. Then he fatefully meets his killer neighbor's estranged wife, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge).
By the time Oz returns to Montreal, he has fallen in love and knows that the "whole nine yards" refers to a stash of millions that can only be claimed by three people: Jimmy, Janni or Cynthia. Jimmy intends to kill his wife and Janni when they come to town, while gaining an avid admirer and student of the deadly arts in pretty, would-be killer Jill. She, in turn, is hired by Sophie to get Oz. And
so on.
Thankfully, the whole shootin' match is over before one gets too antsy with the convoluted plot. Many of the more hilarious moments belong to Perry, playing the nervous wretch with bumbling proficiency and numerous pratfalls that get big laughs.
Not breaking a sweat, but playing well off the likes of Duncan and Peet, Willis makes it all look easy. Meanwhile, when Peet has several topless scenes in the frantic conclusion, it's hard not to recall executive producer Elie Samaha's offscreen rants in Myles Berkowitz's "20 Dates" about putting more sex in movies.
But on her acting merits, Peet (the WB's "Jack & Jill") is a noteworthy presence in the final three yards of this "Whole". Duncan ("The Green Mile") is impressive in his limited role, while Arquette, Henstridge, Pollak and Harland Williams are all a tad underused but crucial participants.
THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
Warner Bros.
Morgan Creek Prods.
and Franchise Pictures present
A Rational Packaging production
In association with Lansdown Films
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Screenwriter: Mitchell Kapner
Producers: David Willis, Allan Kaufman
Executive producers: Elie Samaha,
Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: David Franco
Production designer: David L. Snyder
Editor: Tom Lewis
Costume designer: Edi Giguere
Music: Randy Edelman
Casting: Nancy Nayor
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski: Bruce Willis
Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky: Matthew Perry
Sophie: Rosanna Arquette
Frankie Figs: Michael Clarke Duncan
Cynthia:Natasha Henstridge
Jill: Amanda Peet
Janni Gogolak: Kevin Pollak
Buffalo Steve: Harland Williams
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Warner Bros. has another gangsters-among-us commercial hit, thanks to the efficient direction of Jonathan Lynn ("Trial and Error"), enthusiastic comedic performances by leads Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis and a snappy, fast-moving screenplay credited to Mitchell Kapner (the upcoming "Romeo Must Die"). The public's appetite for such fare -- from last year's big Warner Bros. hit "Analyze This" to "The Sopranos" -- appears to be insatiable, so expect this one to run away with the whole caboose when it opens wide for Presidents Day weekend.
American everyloser Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (Perry) is a Montreal dentist whose tres bitchy, French-speaking wife Sophie (Rosanna Arquette) has ruined his life in many important ways. But he seems to be a naturally upbeat kind of guy. At lunch with his tres perky, sexy-talking assistant Jill (Amanda Peet), we learn that he's frustrated and suppressing anger, which comes out when he can't get a sandwich served without mayonnaise. Living in a generic suburb, Oz is understandably scared witless when he discovers that his new neighbor is a notorious hitman from Chicago, Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Willis), who betrayed his employers and is hiding out.
While the filmmakers know that the subgenre of crime comedies works best when the underworld types kill "for real" and risk being killed, it also pays off to have a halfway credible setup. That doesn't happen here, but Perry and Willis help the movie shuffle around its most rocky obstacles, like how Sophie gets Oz to go to Chicago to collect a "finder's fee" from the Hungarian gang out for revenge against Jimmy.
The ongoing dynamic of the movie is how everyone but Oz has plans to kill someone for money or career advancement. Lusting after his insurance policy payout, Sophie also wants Oz dead and puts the moves on Jimmy. In Chicago, Oz is immediately approached and beat up by the imposing Frankie Figs Michael Clarke Duncan).
When he's brought to face Janni (Kevin Pollak), the head of the Gogolak Gang, Oz starts to have second thoughts about betraying Jimmy. Then he fatefully meets his killer neighbor's estranged wife, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge).
By the time Oz returns to Montreal, he has fallen in love and knows that the "whole nine yards" refers to a stash of millions that can only be claimed by three people: Jimmy, Janni or Cynthia. Jimmy intends to kill his wife and Janni when they come to town, while gaining an avid admirer and student of the deadly arts in pretty, would-be killer Jill. She, in turn, is hired by Sophie to get Oz. And
so on.
Thankfully, the whole shootin' match is over before one gets too antsy with the convoluted plot. Many of the more hilarious moments belong to Perry, playing the nervous wretch with bumbling proficiency and numerous pratfalls that get big laughs.
Not breaking a sweat, but playing well off the likes of Duncan and Peet, Willis makes it all look easy. Meanwhile, when Peet has several topless scenes in the frantic conclusion, it's hard not to recall executive producer Elie Samaha's offscreen rants in Myles Berkowitz's "20 Dates" about putting more sex in movies.
But on her acting merits, Peet (the WB's "Jack & Jill") is a noteworthy presence in the final three yards of this "Whole". Duncan ("The Green Mile") is impressive in his limited role, while Arquette, Henstridge, Pollak and Harland Williams are all a tad underused but crucial participants.
THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
Warner Bros.
Morgan Creek Prods.
and Franchise Pictures present
A Rational Packaging production
In association with Lansdown Films
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Screenwriter: Mitchell Kapner
Producers: David Willis, Allan Kaufman
Executive producers: Elie Samaha,
Andrew Stevens
Director of photography: David Franco
Production designer: David L. Snyder
Editor: Tom Lewis
Costume designer: Edi Giguere
Music: Randy Edelman
Casting: Nancy Nayor
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski: Bruce Willis
Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky: Matthew Perry
Sophie: Rosanna Arquette
Frankie Figs: Michael Clarke Duncan
Cynthia:Natasha Henstridge
Jill: Amanda Peet
Janni Gogolak: Kevin Pollak
Buffalo Steve: Harland Williams
Running time -- 98 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 2/11/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Myles Berkowitz's low-budget debut feature is an obvious homage to the work of Albert Brooks, both in style -- the film is very similar to Brooks' "Real Life" -- and comic attitude, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.
A "documentary" supposedly depicting a series of real-life dates the hapless filmmaker embarked on in Los Angeles, "20 Dates" has enough wit to entertain discerning audiences and a leading man with an appealingly self-deprecating, nebbish comic persona. Showcased recently at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the film will be released by Fox Searchlight in early 1999.
Narrated by the star-filmmaker, "20 Dates" begins with Berkowitz amusingly trying, a la Michael Moore, to barge onto studio lots to procure meetings with movie execs. Failing at that, he decides to make an independent feature documenting his woebegone romantic life and search for true love.
Procuring funds from an hilariously profane financier named Elie, Berkowitz proceeds on the first of what he promises will be 20 dates. After his first date is obviously rattled by the camera crew following them, he decides to film in secret, with equally disastrous results.
A series of humorous would-be romantic encounters ensues, punctuated by Berkowitz's deadpan narration, on-screen graphics, comically juxtaposed clips from various Hollywood love stories ("Titanic", etc.) and amusing commentary by Robert McKee, a real-life expert on movie narrative. Berkowitz becomes increasingly desperate to score with women, resorting to desperate measures such as bungee jumping and borrowing a small child, and resists Elie's constant pressures to add "tits and ass" and date "a real star" -- in this case, Tia Carrere.
The film eventually settles into a conventional love story when Berkowitz meets Elizabeth, a beautiful interior design specialist. But she becomes increasingly irritated with the filmmaking process and delivers an ultimatum: the movie or her.
"20 Dates" is more than a little repetitive at times, particularly in the endless arguments between the filmmaker and his producer, and Berkowitz sometimes pushes his character to the point of annoyance. But the concept, if a bit precious, is undeniably clever, and no doubt many in the audience -- men and women -- will find much to relate to in this comically pungent evocation of dating hell.
20 DATES
Fox Searchlight
Director-screenwriter: Myles Berkowitz
Producer: Mark McGarry
Executive producer:Elie Samaha
Director of photography: Adam Biggs
Lead editor: Michael Elliot
Editor: Lisa Cheek
Color/stereo
Cast:
Myles Berkowitz: Himself
Tia Carrere: Herself
Richard Arlook: Himself
Elie Samaha: Himself
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
A "documentary" supposedly depicting a series of real-life dates the hapless filmmaker embarked on in Los Angeles, "20 Dates" has enough wit to entertain discerning audiences and a leading man with an appealingly self-deprecating, nebbish comic persona. Showcased recently at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the film will be released by Fox Searchlight in early 1999.
Narrated by the star-filmmaker, "20 Dates" begins with Berkowitz amusingly trying, a la Michael Moore, to barge onto studio lots to procure meetings with movie execs. Failing at that, he decides to make an independent feature documenting his woebegone romantic life and search for true love.
Procuring funds from an hilariously profane financier named Elie, Berkowitz proceeds on the first of what he promises will be 20 dates. After his first date is obviously rattled by the camera crew following them, he decides to film in secret, with equally disastrous results.
A series of humorous would-be romantic encounters ensues, punctuated by Berkowitz's deadpan narration, on-screen graphics, comically juxtaposed clips from various Hollywood love stories ("Titanic", etc.) and amusing commentary by Robert McKee, a real-life expert on movie narrative. Berkowitz becomes increasingly desperate to score with women, resorting to desperate measures such as bungee jumping and borrowing a small child, and resists Elie's constant pressures to add "tits and ass" and date "a real star" -- in this case, Tia Carrere.
The film eventually settles into a conventional love story when Berkowitz meets Elizabeth, a beautiful interior design specialist. But she becomes increasingly irritated with the filmmaking process and delivers an ultimatum: the movie or her.
"20 Dates" is more than a little repetitive at times, particularly in the endless arguments between the filmmaker and his producer, and Berkowitz sometimes pushes his character to the point of annoyance. But the concept, if a bit precious, is undeniably clever, and no doubt many in the audience -- men and women -- will find much to relate to in this comically pungent evocation of dating hell.
20 DATES
Fox Searchlight
Director-screenwriter: Myles Berkowitz
Producer: Mark McGarry
Executive producer:Elie Samaha
Director of photography: Adam Biggs
Lead editor: Michael Elliot
Editor: Lisa Cheek
Color/stereo
Cast:
Myles Berkowitz: Himself
Tia Carrere: Herself
Richard Arlook: Himself
Elie Samaha: Himself
Running time -- 90 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/31/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.