FFVP Review - The Whole Nine Yards

THE WHOLE NINE YARDS

Sophie and Oz Oseransky have a problem - each other. He’d love to divorce her. She’d love to kill him. The recognizable front page hit man who just moved in next door under an assumed name could be the answer to her problems, but he takes to Oz’s neighborly ways. Undaunted, Sophie concocts a plan that sends Oz to Chicago on a wild goose chase to ingratiate himself to the hit man’s former mob boss, while plotting Oz’s death on the home front in suburban Montreal. Everyone seems to be in cahoots with each other, while playing both ends against the middle, including the hit man’s wife, and his best friend. There’s even an undercover FBI guy and a hit man fan who are trying to get some side action of their own. One out of three people, unbeknownst to the others, stands to collect $10,000,000 if one of them can outmaneuver, outwit, and outgun the other two. The only things standing in their way are jealousy, revenge, and love. The winner-take-all must have the willingness to go, as the title indicates, "The Whole Nine Yards."

Nick & Sophie Ozaransky

Bruce Willis as Jimmy

The plot of "The Whole Nine Yards" may be convoluted and the situations off the wall, but the movie’s unique characters and the way they bounce off each other like opposite poles of a magnet make it all work. Rosanna Arquette gives Sophie a wildly affected French Canadian accent while Kevin Pollak’s version of a mob boss named Yanni Gogolak is pure stand-up. At first, it’s a little disconcerting but once the plot begins its tailspin into absurdity, the broad strokes in their personas begin to make sense. Bruce Willis is at the top of his form with a parody of the kind of cool distanced performance that is the hallmark of his career. Willis’ Jimmy ‘TheTulip’ Tedeski .is a hit man with a self assured killer smile and a survivor’s instincts. He longs to retire from the scene, if only he could get his old mob boss off his back! "Friends"’ star Matthew Perry puts his mettle to the pedal turning Oz into a fumbling ‘Dudley Do-Right’ who manages to make all the wrong moves make things right. He wears his heart on his sleeve regardless of the consequences. Oz’s naïveté and innocence not only wins him Jimmy Tedeski’s friendship, but also the affections of his estranged wife, Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge). Oz is, to put it simply, a mensch. He also happens to be a good dentist. Oz is so good that his oral artistry becomes a major factor in his survival and the retrieval of the $10,000,000.

Michael Clarke Duncan as Frankie Figs

Natasha Henstridge as Cynthia
Natasha Henstridge
as Cynthia

The rest of the comic weight in "The Whole Nine Yards" comes from the dead pan delivery of Michael Clark Duncan as Tedeski’s sidekick, and Amanda Peet’s childish enthusiasm as a riotous hit-person-in training. Her standout comic performance is reminiscent of Marisa Tomei’s star turn in "My Cousin Vinny" which just happens to have been made by the same director, Johnathan Lynn. "The Whole Nine Yards" is just as funny.

Kevin Pollak as Yanni Gogolack

Amanda Peet as Jill

Some suggested Video Pix

"The Wrong Box" (English) (1966) - Dir. Bryan Forbes. Larry Gelbart co-wrote this period farce based on a Robert Louis Stevenson story. Two brothers try to kill each other so the survivor could inherit a tontine (annuity) for his heirs. Ralph Richardson and John Mills are the brothers. Michael Caine and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are the heirs. There are enough parallel situations between this and "The Whole Nine Yards" to make you wonder if it had some influence over Johnathan Lynn’s decision to make it. He also happens to be English. It was a huge hit in England and played well in the states.

Johnathan Lynn as writer, actor, and director.

"The Internecine Project" (English) (1974) - Lynn is listed as a co-writer with Barry Levinson on this film about a guy who tries to get some industrialists to kill each other who have some incriminating evidence from his past. James Coburn starred with a cast of British supporting players.

"Three Men and a Little Lady" (1990) - This sequel to "Three Men and a Baby" casts Lynn in the supporting role of the Vicar. Just in case you want to see what he looks like.

"My Cousin Vinny" (1992) - Lynn directed Marisa Tomei to her Oscar winning performance as the girlfriend of a novice lawyer, Vinny, who tries to get his cousin off a bum wrap in small town, U.S. A. Marisa made "My biological clock is ticking away" the catch phrase of the year. Joe Pesci is also wonderfully funny as Vinny.

A personal Bruce Willis favorite

"In Country" (1989) - Dir. Norman Jewison - Bruce touched a raw nerve as a Viet Nam vet on the skids trying to help the daughter of a friend killed in the war to discover the father she never knew. This role showed Bruce’s range before becoming a mega star with "Die Hard." He did the same with "Pulp Fiction" but I still think he gave his most haunting performance in this one, at least until "The Sixth Sense" this past year.