Socially anxious hitman Melvin Smiley, an expert in his lucrative field, goes on a job and falls in love with his kidnapping victim, turning his world upside down. Melvin Smiley, a successful young hitman, is living a normal all-day life for his jewish fiancé Pam, but kills for money in Paris' organization. In addition, he has a relationship with a beauty from the neighbourhood and gets bothered by a pimply video store guy, because he did not return "King Kong Lives" for two weeks. He and his three teammates Cisco, Crunch and Vince one day decide to kidnap the daughter of super-rich businessman Jiro Nishi - off the record. What they do not know, is that Jiro just went completely bankrupt due to a successless movie production, and, even worse, that his daughter Keiko is the god-daughter of Paris, the boss of the kidnappers. He and his men are now searching for the kidnappers in order to grind them up properly. Meanwhile, handcuffed Keiko falls in love with killer Melvin while both preparing a kosher meal in order to satisfy Pam's visiting parents, who are out of the house with Pam - with a body in the trunk. Jeez… It started as a random, typical funny-smart-enjoyable -black comedy-of-the-second-half-of-the-90's, with memorable action sequences (particularly the big-boss house storm scene in the beginning of the film) and a gentle hitman (Whalberg does his best), but the movie hits the floor by the end of it. The action scenes are few, and the laughs don't come out right (although I have been waiting to see Gould's vomit since MASH). Sabato Jr. and the Chump guy also disappear, pity: teamed up with "Nice Killer" Melvin they could move a somewhat dull movie a little bit. Two stars out of 5. Why hit men Mark Wahlberg (Melvin Smiley), Lou Diamond Phillips (Cisco), Bokeem Woodbine (Crunch), and Antonio Sabato Jr. (Vince) are nearly naked in an early locker room scene in this dreadful movie is beyond me. Bokeem Woodbine has one up on his muscle-bound buddies: he's simply fascinated with the subject of masturbation; he's even the Customer of the Month at his local video store. "The Big Hit" never knows if it's a comedy, a parody, an action film, or a love story. The four genres, so mixed up, simply meld into one big mess. Christina Applegate (Pam Shulman) plays well as Mark Wahlberg's girlfriend; the only funny segment of this hopeless flick happens when her parents, the Shulmans (played by Lainie Kazan and Elliott Gould) come to visit. Melvin and Pam want the Shulmans' marriage blessing, but Melvin isn't Jewish, and that doesn't necessarily sit right for the Shulmans, especially Mr. Shulman, who has a rather interesting way of looking at things. Lainie Kazan and Elliott Gould breathed life into this dead zone (Elliott Gould looks pretty darned good); their appearance in this dull film upgraded the IMDb rating from a 1 to a 2. Unquestionably a slick piece of goods. The training and experience of Wong and his crew –- culled largely from such action series as "La Femme Nikita" and "Once a Thief" –- keep the film lively and vivid.
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355 weeks ago