On paper, Sir Ben Kingsley starring in a black comedy about an off-and-on-and-off-and-on-the-wagon hitman whose Family ships him from Buffalo to San Francisco for an extended dry-out sounds more risky than Bruce Willis’ return to his comedic roots in The Whole Nine Yards or Robert De Niro’s self-mocking turn in Analyze This. But for every Gandhi or Sexy Beast he’s embodied, Kingsley’s also been willing to dirty his hands with the questionable likes of Thunderbirds and BloodRayne, and he’s long been proud of his comedic background with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Whereas Willis and Bobby D. spoofed their tough-guy personas in their respective films, Kingsley takes the straight-man approach. His vodka-swilling Frank Falenczyk is comparatively solid as a result: a formidable, likable and vulnerable standout among mob-comedy caricatures.
The supporting cast—Leoni as Frank’s gloomy love interest, Farina and Hall as warring mob bosses, Wilson as Frank’s stoic gay sponsor, a disheveled Pullman as a crooked real-estate broker—mesh well within the film’s laconic vibe. Yet it’s Kingsley who best mines twisted comedy out of alcoholic pathos, whether imploring the Golden Gate Bridge for guidance or furrowing his brow, steeling his jaw and making amends to those he’s “harmed” by purchasing gift certificates for their remaining family members.
Successfully upping its funny quotient, Kill refuses to get bogged down in treacly emotion (in one scene, Frank proclaims his love for Leoni’s Laurel before his fellow AA-ers—she responds, appropriately, by holding a knife to a rival mobster’s throat), and the action remains fast-paced throughout. Shot on a slim budget in Vancouver, the movie has a drab gray color scheme that emphasizes the characters’ moral ambiguity. In this post-Sopranos world, however, the film neglects to grant the Polish and Irish gang rivals much relevance, and its pro-sobriety views can come across as heavy-handed. There may also be something inherently cruel in mocking 12-steppers’ need for full disclosure. Yet that cruelty is a hoot, and rarely is rooting for the bad guy’s efforts to become a better bad guy such a pleasure.