The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

Poster from amazon.com.
Jonathan Lynn, who directed Clue, also directed The Whole Nine Yards; you can see some hints of his madcap and over-the-top directing in both movies.

Matthew Perry plays Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky, a dentist who can't seem to make much money. That could be because he has to pay off his father-in-law's debt, and his wife, Sophie (Rosanna Arquette), makes sure that he pays it (his father-in-law and he worked together). Sophie sounds a lot like Yvette from Clue. Oz is unhappily married, and wants to divorce Sophie ASAP. After meeting Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis), Sophie thinks of a way to get out of debt.

Jimmy was a contract killer who just spent five years in prison. So Sophie makes Oz go to Chicago and find the son of a mob boss that Jimmy killed to rat Jimmy out so that he can get money for a finder's fee. And that's just the first reel.

The movie feels like a drama where the actors don't think that they're funny, but they are. As director Lynn said on the commentary on the DVD, "You could make it a drama and not take out any words." But, it's a comedy, and Perry adds some physical humor to the otherwise "wordy" humor.

Willis plays great in these type of roles-the comedic bad guys, the part where he can be funny but is also in a serious role. I liked him in this role; and so did he.

My favorite character was Jill St. Clair, played by Amanda Peet. She was good as Oz's secretary who falls in love with Jimmy. It's obvious she wasn't that comfortable with her nude scene, but she managed to get through it, and I hope she's as good in the sequel.

Michael Clarke Duncan played Frankie Figs, someone who supposedly works for Janni Gogolak (Kevin Pollak), the son I mentioned earlier. He came on to work right after he finished with The Green Mile, and his roles couldn't be any more different. He shows his "big-ness" in here too, and it's worth seeing TWNY just to see Perry run into him.

The only thing I didn't like about the movie was it wasn't always funny. I thought that the plot had a few too many twists and turns for a comedy, but it could be a new "style". But, I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind paying attention in movies, because if you don't pay attention, you'll get lost.

Rated R for nudity.

Review Date: September 2, 2002