Killers

Review By Jason McKiernan

When it became public some weeks ago that Lionsgate would not be screening Killers in advance for critics, the journalistic world was abuzz: would this high-profile movie pairing  Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl -- a match made in eye-candy heaven -- really be such a bomb that it felt the need to skirt the venomous sting of critics? As a critic who just emerged from a standard, ho-hum, no-swag cineplex screening, I can attest that the answer is, somewhat surprisingly, no.

That being said, perhaps it was a wise decision to banish Killers reviews from all Friday morning print and web publications, for while the film is not the disaster we all might have assumed, it is nonetheless fraught with a myriad of issues that cannot be denied -- and surely won't be in the slew of late-arriving reviews that post over the coming days. Issues such as a hazy, convoluted murder-for-hire plot, an oftentimes too-cutesy romance, fairly pedestrian action sequences, lazy attempts at cliché humor, talented supporting actors who are all but ignored, and a screenplay that loses steam before arriving at its obvious conclusion. And yet the film is able to blunt the impact of its many flaws simply by nailing the two elements so few of today's films manage to produce: charm and chemistry.

Most readers will be shocked to read that a sizable amount of charm can be ignited between Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, two of the more loathed celebrities among film-goers of a certain level of sophistication. But Heigl actually has a lot of comedic skill that's been long obscured by her simpering role with oddball B-plots on TV's Grey's Anatomy, and Kutcher -- normally one to play interchangeable pretty boys in garbage like last year's Spread -- has fun winking at his real-life image and trading verbal bon mots with his glowing co-lead, even if he is completely unbelievable in the role of a dapper contract killer. Which brings us to...

Oh, yeah, the plot! Kutcher plays Spencer, a hit-man (heh, heh) on assignment in France who stumbles upon Jen (Heigl), a beautiful-yet-uptight American on vacation (now that I can buy, even though we see this character in almost every modern American romantic comedy). In a series of fantastically rushed romantic comedy sequences, Spencer and Jen fall in love, get married, and settle into a suburban life together while Spencer -- secretly, of course -- puts a swift end to his unlawful line of work. Three years pass (dum, dum, DUM), and our lovable couple has fallen into a typical rut. But they quickly receive a rude awakening -- in the form of a continuing cascade of contract killers who are all looking to kill Spencer, for there is apparently a $20 million bounty on his head. And the moral of the story is, be sure to disclose your secret life as a professional killer before marrying the girl of your dreams.

Twists abound, as they often do in movie situations like this, although the makers of Killers apparently saw fit to unveil another killer-in-disguise every five minutes, a pattern that is not only unnecessary but painfully obvious. Most of the amiable supporting cast (including Lisa Ann Walter and Rob Riggle, among others) gets short shrift, though Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara make for consistent entertainment as Jen's odd couple parents...and I wonder what secrets they are hiding, too. The plot becomes more and more convoluted as we are not only dealt the increasingly complicated murder plot, but also the comic trials of Spencer and Jen's marriage, which is tested not only by the revelation that Spencer is a killer, but by the fact that...well, I'm not going to give everything away.

Robert Luketic, the Australian director who has made quite a splash in America with bright, colorful rom-coms (Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, The Ugly Truth), directs Killers with the same keen attention to cute details of funny couples' behavior. He lacks a similar aptitude for action choreography, as the film's climactic scenes consist of lots of awkward punching filmed with a shaky hand-held camera. But Luketic brings the same sought-after element that Heigl and Kutcher bring -- charm. He has an eye for gleaming, colorful photography and comically exaggerated human behavior. His touch, while part of the problem, is also part of what makes Killers not only tolerable, but occasionally fun.

It's not a perfect film and it's not a piece of cinematic refuse, but Killers is able to find happiness in the middle, and for a glossy studio picture in the beginning of a very disappointing summer, it's not the worst way to spend 100 minutes.