By Matthew Bitz
Last weekend, I went and saw what I am happy to say was a very funny movie, "The Whole Nine Yards" starring Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis. Despite what some critics have said about this film, I think that it is quite humorous and entertaining.
Bruce Willis manages to give a tolerable, if not Oscar worthy, performance as Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski a hit man for a mob in Chicago. Imprisoned for five years he is finally released and moves to Canada.
His next-door neighbor is the quintessential nice guy, Oz, a dentist who is played by Perry. As the nice guy on the block, Oz goes over to meet his new neighbor, unaware of who he really is, however, when he sees the tattoo of a red tulip on his forearm, it all clicks in. Shaken by this obviously bad turn of events he returns home and tells his much-hated wife that a hit man is living next door.
She comes up with the idea of Oz going to Chicago to collect on the bounty on Tudeskis' head so that they can pay off some debt and get divorced. Sound interesting yet? Oz flies to Chicago and gets in way deeper than he was before, and in the process finds out that just about everybody wants him dead: the mobsters, his wife, his secretary has been hired to kill him, Tudeski will kill him if necessary. The list goes on and on. The poor fellow ends up falling in love, to make matters worse, with Jimmys' wife, the one thing the hit man cannot tolerate, even tough he wants her dead.
I won't tell you anymore after that, because to do so would spoil the fun of the movie and I don't want to do that, but I will say that this is a refreshingly lighthearted look at the mob and whom they want to kill. Much of the time is spent laughing at the panicked Perry who is always doing or saying something funny. The pace manages to stay lively and quick throughout the movie, something which I was surprised by. Unlike some of the recent films that have starred "Friends" actors and actresses, this one is what I would call a success.
