{"id":11207,"date":"2021-03-01T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itwaslikemagic.com\/?p=11207"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:42:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:42:01","slug":"grosse-pointe-blank-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/grosse-pointe-blank-1997\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ (1997) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Professional hitman Martin Blank is invited to his 10-year high school reunion. Having been essentially MIA from his hometown since he disappeared on prom night, Martin struggles to attend. No one knows what he does for a living, especially not his ex-girlfriend, Debi, whom he left behind in 1986 without a word. After coaxing some advice from his very reluctant therapist, Martin decides to attend his reunion, especially since he was given a brand-new hit that just so happened to take place in his old hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was my first time watching Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em> (much to my husband’s horror, who loves this movie and was convinced we had watched it before), and I have to say. I enjoyed it. I tend to enjoy most of John Cusack’s<\/a><\/strong> movies, and I think Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em> became one of my favorites. It’s a fun mix of action, dark comedy, and romance set against a high school reunion where Martin is honest with his friends – he’s a professional killer – but nobody believes him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desperate to make amends with Debi (Minnie Driver<\/a><\/strong>), Martin puts off opening the dossier on his current mark, aware that he’ll have to leave once the job is complete. I found the chemistry between Cusack and Driver to be mesmerizing, and while they’ve been apart for a decade, I could still feel the history between their characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driver edges into Cool Girl<\/em> territory with a lot of charm. At the same time, Cusack’s Martin seems to be an older version of Lloyd Dobbler if he had decided to become a hitman – complete with the manic energy and kickboxing expertise. He’s as affable as ever, and despite Martin’s moral shortcomings, you can’t help but root for him. Dan Aykroyd is a brilliantly funny rival and antagonist, while Joan Cusack and Alan Arkin shine in more minor, supporting roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found Grosse Pointe Blank<\/em> to be a highly entertaining black comedy. Every time you start to get comfortably pulled into the romance, you’re jerked back to reality by being reminded of what Martin does for a living and everyone out to get him. The violence is never too far behind, and I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the climactic shoot-out while Martin tries to explain himself and his feelings to Debi, who is hiding in a bathroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Professional Killer isn’t exactly something to brag about, it definitely makes Martin a hell of a lot more interesting than the classmates he catches up with – nine-to-five jobs, marriages, babies… they may be craving the kind of excitement Martin experiences daily, but Martin finds himself longing for the settled life. And look, I know this movie was meant to deal with a 10-year reunion, but there is no way those people were in their late twenties. It would have made a lot more sense for this to be a 20-year reunion unless everyone attending Pointe High had a rough life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was one of my favorite movies so far this year, and I will watch it again. Hugh Grant generally gets the Rom-Com King crown, but I think a case could be made for Cusack’s coronation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watched:<\/strong> 02\/27\/2021
Notable Song<\/strong>: Let My Love Open the Door by Pete Townshend<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rating:<\/strong><\/div>
<\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/path><\/svg><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grosse Pointe Blank: Martin Blank is a professional assassin. He is sent on a mission to a small Detroit suburb, Grosse Pointe, and, by coincidence, his ten-year high school reunion party is taking place there at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[944,1],"tags":[396,1310,1284,1792,1793,1314,584,687,1002,410,1794,494,3653],"class_list":["post-11207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews-g","category-reviews","tag-396","tag-alan-arkin","tag-dan-aykroyd","tag-george-armitage","tag-grosse-pointe-blank","tag-hank-azaria","tag-jenna-elfman","tag-jeremy-piven","tag-joan-cusack","tag-john-cusack","tag-k-todd-freeman","tag-minnie-driver","tag-4-5-stars"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11207"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81768,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11207\/revisions\/81768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}