Kill Me Later Review
by Harvey S. Karten (film_critic AT compuserve DOT com)September 8th, 2001
KILL ME LATER
Reviewed by Harvey Karten
Curb Entertainment/Amazon Film Productions
Director: Dana Lustig
Writer: Annette Goliti Gutierrez, Dana Lustig
Cast: Selma Blair, Max Beesley, Brendan Fehr, Lochlyn Munro, O'Neal Compton, D.W. Moffett
Screened at: Loews Screening Rm., NYC 9/7/01
Nobody ever says "all you need is love" in this movie--which could probably fit neatly into some WOR-TV schedule on a Wednesday at 5 p.m.--but the subtext is there. "Kill Me Later" is about a woman, Shawn (Selma Blair) who has had a dysfunctional childhood (product of a divorced dad) and who works in a bank--and is worked on in bed by her boss Matthew (D.W. Moffett). The trouble is that Matthew is not about to break up his marriage to his pregnant wife, though Selma insists "I never asked you to leave your wife." Original this is not. So what's a poor girl to do when his silly boss chooses to remain with his own family? Suicide, of course. After all, even a pretty woman like Shawn can't bear to live without this jerk, and despite her knockout of a figure and her tasteful, black, urban threads, she sees no prospect of something better. The question remains: how to do herself in? Jump off a high building? Leap from a bridge?
Nah. Some postmodern Prince Charming is always ready to save such an unhappy individual, and what better choice for a man than someone far more exciting than a bank manager...how about a dashing bank robber who is sensitive to a female's needs?
The movie gets its title from Shawn's verbal contract with a bank robber whose plans were about to be foiled by the police, Charlie (Max Beesley). "I'll help you escape," she offers when he thinks he's merely taking her as an unwilling hostage, "If you will kill me later. The story is banal enough, with decent performers like Selma Blair ("Cruel Intentions") and Max Beesley ("The Last Minute") unable to do much with a script devoid of wit to say nothing of credibility. But director Dana Lustig makes matters worse with some film-school, music-video jump cuts, excessive use of a blue filter at one point during a car chase, and generic, intrusive rock music. As young cop-old cop, Lochlyn Munro and O'Neal Compton are locked into the hackneyed roles of bright kid with scientific theories of suicide vs. seen-it-all-what's-with-you- and-your-notions cynic.
Rated R. Running time: 89 minutes. (C) 2001 by
Harvey Karten, [email protected]
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