Wild Target (2010)

It may seem odd that the first post for a blog concerned primarily with classic British comedy would kick off with a brand new movie, but I just watched Wild Target for the second time and wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still fresh.

Directed by Johnathan Lynn (Nuns On The Run) the film is about an uptight hitman Victor(Bill Nighy) who falls in love with his current target Rose (Emily Blunt) and instead attemps to protect her along with his gormless apprentice Tony (Rupert Grint). Rose has upset a big shot art collector (Rupert Everett) by conning him out of a million pounds, and after Victor screws the pooch, he hires the sadist Dixon (Martin Freeman) to take them both out.  After a close call at a hotel, Victor takes his surreal "family" back to his country home where they set up house.

Apparently the movies been getting crappy reviews all over the place, though frankly I don't see why. While not destined to become a classic by any means, the film is funny (always good in a comedy), clever, and charming.  The performances are uniformly good, even from minor characters, and the humour manages to walk the fine line between dark and whimsical quite deftly.

There's two major problems I have with the film.  The first is that, in their efforts to establish Rose as a amoral, selfish, conniving crook at the beginning, the filmmakers undermine the later romance between herself and Victor. To be honest, right until the last minute it's hard to tell whether she really loves Victor or is using him (and I don't think they were trying to be coy, so I'm not giving anything away here).  The second is an extension of that--the 20 or so minutes in the second half when the movie drops everything and tries to be a romantic comedy.  It doesn't work.  The dark comedy is fine, the dry comedy is fine, even the slapstick is fine, but the romantic comedy was one ingredient too many. But that's a minor quibble in an otherwise enjoyable way to kill a couple of hours.