I LOVE YOU TO DEATH. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan; written by John Kostmayer; produced by Jeffrey Lurie and Ron Moler for Tri-Star. Starring Kevin Kline and Tracey Ullman. Rated R.
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It's hard for me to believe that the same director who made such finely crafted movies as Body Heat and The Big Chill could be responsible for this mishmash. It has a few funny moments, but most of it is tasteless, meandering and not even up to average movie-making. Expecting much better from Kasdan and company makes I Love You to Death that much harder to take.
Kline is Joey, a philandering pizza maker who somehow feels it's his destiny to bed every female who wanders into his field of vision. Ullman is his wife Rosalie, who is shocked into attempted homicide by her (belated) discovery of Joey's extracurricular activities.
The funny part of the movie is supposed to be Rosalie's frustrated attempts to knock off her husband. I don't object to the subject matter as much as to the movie's failure to connect, comedy-wise.
Perhaps, somewhere along the line—in casting, re-writes, the cutting room—I Love You Death could have been made into an entertaining picture. But it just didn't happen.
Kline is his usual charming self, but Joey's too much of a caricature for Kline to be as interesting as he's able to be. (His Oscar-winning character in A Fish Called Wanda, for example, is a more disgusting person than Joey, but also a much more entertaining one.)
Ullman is a sympathetic figure—too sympathetic, actually, for us to believe she'd really want to kill someone. And the people who end up helping Rosalie achieve her murderous ends are a mixed bag.
Her mother (Joan Plowright) is wacky enough to give the plot whatever small chance it has at working. And Keanu Reeves is so good at being spacey that his characterization of a druggie would-be murderer is a modest success.
But River Phoenix is out to lunch as the kid with a crush on Rosalie, and William Hurt has never been more miscast. They drag the others down with them.
Then there's that subject matter again. When you're trying to do black comedy, you'd better be sure to get the comedy right. Without it, you're left with nothing but unpleasantness.
April 20, 1990