Wesley Morris

23 May 2012

The screenplay has pages I imagine remain only half-filled. Not long after Heigl and Kutcher meet in an elevator, they share this exchange. She: "Huh-huh." He: "Huh." She: "Huuuuuh." This is the language of love for two people coming out of a coma.

WHYeat

23 May 2012

moderately entertaining

The story begins with Jen vacationing and meeting a charismatic,attractive gentleman named Spencer. Their instant chemistry prompts aspeedy proposal. Spencer must have huge balls because he asks for Jen'sfather's blessing while they're out clay shooting. Nevertheless, herdad OKs it and Jen and Spencer get married. 3 peaceful years later theyare living in a suburban paradise and have an enviable, perfectmarriage. One day she comes home early to surprise her husband, butfinds herself surprised to find him beating another man senseless.Spencer actually works for the bla bla bla and they have given him thelicense to bla. Married life is the least of their worries as there isnow a motley crew of contracted assassins on their tail. They go on therun, but not without leaving a trail of bullets and millions inproperty damage.The best way to get a sense of what Killers is like is to think of aromantic comedy. In between all the drama, instead of your typicalstory development, Killers fills the time with shooting and explosions.The action is not half bad and there is a decent amount of it. However,the action sequences are paired with a comedic soundtrack. Less AC/DC.More Looney Tunes. That's because not all the action is serious. Forexample, Jen pulls a huge gun on a female assassin who is stranglingSpencer with a telephone wire. She is unable to fire off a shot,fumbles with it, and eventually drops it. Yes, I agree. Not terriblyfunny at all.Killers is entertaining enough to make you forget that you're watchinga chick flick, but not for long. In between all the action, Jen andSpencer do discuss the lack of honesty in their relationship. The wholesecret agent life is a lot to take, but Jen quickly accepts this. Shealso quickly fell in love with him. She quickly married him. Shequickly forgave him for any wrong doing. The story quickly tied up allloose ends. The screenplay must have been about 10 pages since thewriter had to cut everything down to accommodate the action. Perhaps itimproved on the pure entertainment value, but compromised substance.We're starting to see more of these action, romantic comedies. Mr. andMrs. Smith is more serious, Date Night is more funny, and Killers fallssomewhere in between. However, unlike the prior two, Killers doesn'thave a such coherent story. I found that there were a fewdiscontinuities and I felt there wasn't any purpose for most of theevents which occurred. Katherine Heigl is attractive, but not thatfunny even though her character is inherently quirky and nerdy. Thefunniest bit was when she does a robot impression to recover from afailed joke on the first date. Ashton Kutcher has been funnier thanthis on many occasions, but he carries most of the action sequences, soI'll excuse that. I think the funniest thing is Magnum, P.I. as thestern father.In the end, I new that it was too much to expect a romantic comedy toprovide the girlfriend with romance and the boyfriend with action andtop it all off with laughter. Killers didn't completely fail in any oneaspect, but it didn't excel at any either. The ending felt like a lastminute decision and it left me wanting.Bro-Approved – It could be worse…

18 May 2012

Funniest film Ive seen in a while

This review is from: Killers (DVD) Ashton just keeps improving as an actor. He & Katherine Heigl play off each other wonderfully. You will laugh your way through this comedy.

eschetic-2

18 May 2012

Fun trumps craft not even low art, but it is fun.

KILLERS is essentially a bad episode of CHUCK meets the "Brangelina"MR. & MRS. SMITH remake, but Nice in the south of France (where theopening scenes of "cute courtship" among James Bond references are set)is beautiful and will hold good memories for those who've been there,and the giddy "farce of violence" at the end almost makes up for thedull "domestic" stretches in between.Who knew Ashton Kutcher - long acknowledged as one of the best youngbusinessmen of his generation - could almost ACT? You might not noticeas hard as he's trying to show off his buffed up body at everyopportunity, but this actually may be his best performance to date,pretending to be a latter day "Junior Jason Bourne." I suspectKatherine Heigl might be able to act with a better director and script(she very nearly made an impression in 27 DRESSES). She isn't givenmuch opportunity to do more than give shocked reactions here - any morethan Tom Selleck or Catherine O'Hara (looking a lot more like an agingFaye Dunaway than she did as the mother in the HOME ALONE films) are asMs. Heigl's underwritten but *late* in the film plot essential parentsare.The one place the film makers actually shine is the casting of thecomedy supporting cast - from the blissfully obnoxious Rob Riggle tothe unbilled John Atwood, this seems at times like the film that everygood TV comic actor got to do to keep their SAG insurance benefitscurrent. When "all hell breaks loose" in the final third, everyone hastheir moments of sheer insanity and your popcorn almost gets forgotten.If you live for films with car crashes and buildings being destroyed,the film makers try their best to deliver a film you'll love.No, it isn't art high or low, but it is slightly more than fitful fun.Perhaps not at the price they're charging for films in cities thesedays, but well worth a Friday night DVD rental when it becomesavailable.

15 May 2012

Not great but an ok watch if you dont have high expectations

Ok I admit it: I like Ashton Kutcher although he has been in a few duds. He plays Spencer, a retired hit man, well a hit man who decided to walk away from it when he met Jen, played by Katherine Heigl, in France.Three years later they are married and living a normal suburban life when Spencer gets a note from his old boss requesting a meeting. Suddenly he finds himself a target of his neighbors, buddies, and coworkers, and does not know who he can trust. I found Heigl, who I didn't know, excellent in this but really didn't care for Jen's parents, played by Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara. I found their characters stilted and boring and not genuine. The movie is entertaining but there are many bad lines and the ending is not believable at all, kind of a dud of an ending in my opinion. Don't pay for it but if it's free and you have nothing better to do, it's not a complete waste of time.

Helen OHara

15 May 2012

Heigl and Kutcher make a cute enough couple, but a cringeworthy opening and ludicrous (even by the standards of the genre) ending mean that this is one to watch only when your brain is switched to the "off" position.

Ritch

10 May 2012

Should have killed the director and producer

dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumbother than that, it was ok

Frank Swietek

10 May 2012

A dreadful rip-off of 'True Lies'...a disaster so complete that...it will easily earn a high place among the year's worst pictures.

Amber Wilkinson

05 May 2012

Everything has a thrown-together feel, as the characters are tossed from romcom situations to action set-pieces and back again with no thought to applying any sort of grace notes to ease the transition.

04 May 2012

I liked it, no matter the bad reviews

I watched it last night..twice. Lets just get the basic BAD's over with.Catherine O'Hara - playing the drunk mom...yet again...Just like she did in Orange County. BUT..She pulls it off and is funny doing it. So it's not so bad.Yes, it can be said it is similar to Mr and Mrs Smith. But in this story, only HE is the ex-hitman and she actually ends up doing pretty well (bumbling the whole way) but still keeps up with him, staying alive.That's about all that I felt was bad.Who is upset that they got to see Katherine Heigl in lingerie? Or girls, you got to see Ashton not only in swimwear, doing action scenes and he played a guy that no matter what, he just kept trying to do the right thing for his wife? His character is a GOOD guy.Cameo's by supporting cast/comedians was a nice change of pace.Deleted scenes, Extended scenes, Alternate scenes, Behind the scenes and a Gag reel - Are not bad. There was enough there to feel I spent my $$ ok and wasn't shorted much like many other Bluray films these days. I feel the 3 star reviews and lower are just not fair.4 stars in my review.

Beginthebeguine

04 May 2012

floppola for producer-actor Kutcher

In the late 1960's and early 1970's there were a string of wackyadventure comedies put out by Hollywood as 'B'Films. The first one thatcomes to mind is Allen and Rossi's 'Last of the Secret Agents' and thenthe Sammy Davis Jr and Peter Lawford 'Salt and Pepper' series. Therewas a very loose story which was usually introduced with a narrationfollowed by 'skits' where this and that happened and then an endingwhich usually came out of left field. If you have seen this picture youknow that the writer was familiar with that formula.I enjoyed it for what it is, but... I must agree with many of theposters here that we have seen little or no evidence of Mr. Kutcher'sacting skills to date. The lovable idiot from 'That 70's Show' becamethe lovable idiot in every film he has done (he tries not to play theidiot in this film, but the character is still an idiot).Kutcher isseems like such a likable person though I really want him to succeed,but I don't think I can watch him paper mache his way through a roleanymore, it is just not-solid and all sticky.The stand-out in this film is Catherine O'Hara. She is given absolutelynothing to do and yet she is by far the funniest person in the film.Her reactions to the events around her are scene stealing--that is ifone is to take their attention off the eye-candy of Kutcher and Heigl.

Matilda

03 May 2012

Pretty Awful

I think maybe some of these reviews haven't seen the movie. If you want a real opinion here it is- it's awful. Don't waste your time.

diamond_10

01 May 2012

Hilarious! Im glad I didnt read the reviews first!

I thought this movie was hilarious! I didn't read the reviews before Iwatched and I'm so thankful because I 100% disagree with the majorityof the reviewers! I laughed my butt off throughout the entire movie!There were great one-liners and I thought the cast had great chemistry.I saw some other people compared it to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I have neverseen that movie because I don't care for Angelina Jolie but to me Ithought that movie was the 2 were trying to kill each other, in thismovie, that's not what the plot is at all so I'm not sure why everyonekeeps comparing it to that.To me they are not comparable but like Isaid, I didn't see Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I thought this was a great chickflick but one that the boyfriend or husband could watch too and stillbe interested. I was expecting a fun romantic comedy and to me that'swhat I got! I love all the actors in it and thought they played theirroles perfectly!

ttbui26

01 May 2012

I follow Ashton Kutcher on twitter

This could've been a great movie. It was really boring up until thehour mark. Then you see some life into this movie. Other than that youget to see them in their pretty mundane suburban. What I am moreinterested in is DID ASHTON KUTCHER ALWAYS HAD A BODY LIKE THAT? I meanI was pretty surprise to see what was there when he was exposed. Thismovie is the Bourne identity, mixed with one of Katherine Heigel'smovie mixed with a pile of crap. But anyways I wonder if Ashton Kutcherworked out for this role? I mean I remember him when he was KELSO, Iwouldn't think he would looked so buff in this movie. And then you haveKatherine Heigel's character, she was confusing. Very unstableemotionally. Ashton Kutcher's character was pretty dull, I didn't knowif he was being serious or if he was just constipated. The fightingscenes were horrible, I mean looking at Ashton Kutcher's physique inthis movie, I would think you would put him in better fight scenes. Ifhe was some sort of an assassin you would think he would know some sortof martial arts. But he got his ass kicked by a fat dude from STEP-BROSand some skinny little girl in the movie. I didn't know if this wassuppose to be a comedy or an action. This movie makes it difficult forme to tell. You also have Ms Swan with a gun, it's pretty difficult Ididn't find any parts funny. Ashton Kutcher didn't do his physicalcomedy in this movie at ALL! AT ALL!!

KirnehGlitch

29 April 2012

Not worth the time!

Ashton Kutcher playing the lead along with Katherine Heigl in this"action/comedy". It has a very slow start about a couple meeting onvacation, getting married and living in the suburbs and around 2/3rd inthe movie their life get turned up side down. A very basic, boring plotto say the least. Well, I didn't expect much more from Katherine Heigl,nor Ashton Kutcher, since they're nothing more than faces in Hollywoodwith no real talent for acting.Let's be honest, this movie is nothing more than a way to make a fewbucks of the cast. I wasn't disappointed because I expected it to flop.The action parts are good though, the twist(not twists) also gave themovie a little boost, but not quite enough to say this movie is greator even good for that matter. There are a few small giggles through outthe movie, but not worth a LOL or a remaining smile like we experiencedwith Ace Venture, Bad Boys 2 and Kick-Ass.A very personal opinion: Ashton Kutcher should just do his thing onPunk'd, and Katherine Heigl should stick to her TV series. Becauseneither belong on the big screen. So only watch this if you're a fan ofeither.

28 April 2012

Fun

This review is from: Killers [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) This was a fun movie. I love both of the actors in it and it kept you guessing throughout. Cute!

TxMike

27 April 2012

Starts well, but degenerates into a series of unlikely and unentertaining incidents. A disappointment.

I like the way this movie starts, in France, with nice aerial shots ofNice. It has a good premise, that a professional hit man would meet anice, grounded young lady, fall in love with her on the French Riviera,and want to settle down.Ashton Kutcher is the hit man, Spencer Aimes, and he is very good atwhat he does. But when he meets Katherine Heigl as Jen Kornfeldt hedecides he wants to give up his dangerous and unsatisfying career, andsettle down to a quite life in suburban Georgia. So he tells this tohis contact who warns him "It isn't that easy to get out of this."Other key characters are Tom Selleck as Mr. Kornfeldt and CatherineO'Hara as Mrs. Kornfeldt, Jen's parents.Once they get settled, and Spence realizes there are those out to gethim, the movie takes off on a more frantic pace, and the situations didnot play well for me. I could not recommend this movie to a friend.SPOILERS: Spence and Jen have settled into their neighborhood for 3years, made many friends, and just find out she is expecting theirfirst child. What Spence didn't count on, many of the "friends" wereplanted there to establish relationships, then a $20Million bounty isput on his head. People they know well begin to show up, with guns,intending on killing them. Even Jen's father is involved, as he wasn'treally an airline pilot but a hit man also. Eventuallly Jen and Spenceprevail, Spence and dad make up, and we are to believe they then livedhappily ever after.

Hellmant

26 April 2012

The film is neither funny or thrilling and is instead really boring!

'KILLERS': Two Stars (Out of Five) Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher star in this action comedy directed by Robert Luketic (director of 'WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTION', '21', 'THE UGLY TRUTH' and 'LEGALLY BLONDE'). The film really wants to be a fun mix of 'James Bond' homage style goofy action with romantic comedy slapstick but it fails on both counts. I like some of Luketic's other work (like 'HAMILTION' and '21') but here he has a horrible script to work with and some severely miscast actors. Kutcher is about as wrong for the lead in this film as any casting job I've seen in quite some time (and the voice he chooses to attempt to do in the film is awful) and Heigl is just plain bad.In the film Kutcher plays a secret super agent by the name of Spencer Aimes on assignment in Nice, France who has grown tired of the violence and just wants a normal life. Then he meets carefree and simple Jen (Heigl) on vacation there and immediately falls in love. So he quits the assassin life and gets married. Three years later his ex-employer (Martin Mull) tries to draw him back into the life and when Spencer refuses to go back a mark is put out on his life. Spencer soon learns that a lot of the people he's gotten to know in the last three years are really spies planted in various areas of his life and now they want to kill him. Jen soon discovers what's really going on and the two go on the run not knowing who they can trust.The film is full of ridiculous slapstick and half ass-ed completely over the top action. The film is neither funny or thrilling and is instead really boring. Heigl plays yet another dumb sexist stereotype and her acting has never been worse and Kutcher, like I said, is just the wrong guy for the job and as a result is horrible as well. The two have no chemistry and the supporting cast all seems to be just going through the motions. Then the movie really gets bad when it reaches it's horrendous idiotic conclusion, which makes no sense. Why the two stars then? Because there are a few entertaining moments here and there, including a few mildly impressive action scenes. Other than that the film is almost a complete waste.

Richard

23 April 2012

The film Killers captures Killing

The film Killers is an unexpected film that is action-packed and at least it has a few laughs here and there, simple as that. Luckily, the director Robert Luketic captured the action fiasco and the not-so lovely romance from Jen (Katherine Heigl) and Spencer (Ashton Kutcher). The film has a ton of heart in some areas but otherwise of the killing makes the film horror. The film keeps your attention for one-hundred minutes but no other duration time than that. One thing about this film is that it’s acceptable for any audience that is in a mood for action romance-comedy. The film captures: killing, fast romance and marriage, regret, no chemistry between Heigl and Kutcher, and a handful of necessary and unnecessary laughs. When I was watching the film, all I felt was the killing was the premise of the film not the making love. Killing is the premise of the film and it was nothing else. All you should expect out the film is an unexpected surprise. Unfortunately, with all that said and done-it can be worth and not worth your time depending on your personal preferences of genre of film and to me, it’s not worthwhile unless you want action romance-comedy knockout ready to kill right in front of you. D

22 April 2012

Ashton Is Great

I have mixed feelings about this one. I am Ashton Kutcher's biggest fan, but after viewing "Killers" I have to say it just doesn't work for me. Sure the right components are here for a great action/romantic film; beautiful scenery in the south of France, lots of action with car chases and gun fire, a top box office draw in Ashton, and a pretty good script, but I didn't care for the flow of the film. It was almost like the producers were trying too hard to please the audience and what results is a plot suffering from overkill; there are just too many assassins (which is where the title "Killers" is derived from)) and the plot twists are played again and again. Still, I have to say Ashton is the draw here. He plays a CIA assassin who falls in love with a beautiful woman who gets embroiled in a series of "hits" made on her new husband's life. Tom Selleck has a supporting role playing Ashton's father-in-law and Catherine O'Hara (from "Beetlejuice" fame) plays a funny alcoholic. The movie had a huge budget of $75 million dollars, but it only brought in a paltry $92 million making "Killers" a modest success. The critics also hated the film, but if you love Ashton Kutcher this belongs in your DVD and Blue Ray library. The set comes with a neat featurette, gag reel, and deleted and extended scenes.