Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl have had some struggles in their movie careers. You never know what you might get or how the story might go. And usually it falls under predictable, cheesy, or just plain stupid. Go look at some of their movies if you do not believe me. So when both of them are cast in Killers, it can make you worry. But I have to say, each of them do a nice job and have nice chemistry even though I never believed their marriage to begin with.
Killers is about marrying someone who you think you know but have no idea. Jen (Heigl) goes to France with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O’Hara) on a vacation. She recently got dumped, but soon after she checks in to her hotel, she meets Spencer (Kutcher). It was love at first sight. The movie immediately goes to three years later where they are married and living the good life.
What Jen does not know is Spencer kills people for a living – or, at least he did when she met him. But now he has given it all up for her. It’s not that easy to just walk away, though. Before you know it, neighbors, friends, employees, and the mailman are trying to kill him. So while Jen and Spencer cannot trust anyone, they cannot even trust each other because their marriage has been a lie. Or has it?
This movie has romance mixed with some action and it is entertaining for the most part. It is not just about kill or be killed, but trying to make a marriage work and being able to trust your spouse. All of this is not mixed in perfectly, but director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, The Ugly Truth) tries.
Kutcher looks the part. He is believable as a man who could kill someone. And Heigl actually does a good job playing the innocent, naïve Jen who cares too much and worries a lot. Their chemistry works, but not necessarily as a married couple. For this story to work, they did not have to be married. Boyfriend and girlfriend would have sufficed. Instead, the movie rushes through the proposal and three years of marriage. It feels fake and unemotional. Their marriage feels like a loveless one.
It is nice to see Selleck back on the big screen, though. He plays a pivotal role and has fun with it. There is even mention of his world-famous mustache. O’Hara is funny at times, but I feel she plays the drunk role a bit too much. It is Kutcher and Heigl who carry the movie and sometimes it is fun and exciting, but it runs into some problems. More problems than it should.
One of the best things going for the movie is finding out who is trying to kill Spencer. At first, you do not really know who is in on it. But by the end, it is not who is in on it but who is not in on it. Even the surprise elements of the movie do not stay that way for long. Killers has its faults, but it is better than I thought it would be. At times, the movie is interesting and funny. It does have its action sequences that will make action lovers happy. It is one of those movies that is satisfying because you thought it would be worse. That’s a compliment…I think.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association and the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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