Killers
Release Date:
June 4, 2010
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 115/123 |
David Mumpower |
The fact that Katherine Heigl's movies keep getting worse is all the more amazing given that 27 Dresses was terrible to start. |
| 178/190 |
Max Braden |
I want to like Kutcher, and then he picks projects like this. |
Romance? Check. Action? Check. Secret Spy? Check. Katherine Heigl? Check. Welcome to the 21st Century version of a hit film. Who cares about the actual plot? All that matters Is that love is found, the bad guys are taken down, and Heigl’s face is plastered on the poster. Killers is all of this rolled into one. Don’t let the title scare you, Killers is just another run-of-the-mill action/comedy. The film centers on Jen, who while vacationing in Nice with her parents meets Spencer, played by Ashton Kutcher. Spencer wines and dines her and they fall in love. Jen begins to settle into the fact that she could spend her life with Spencer only to find out that he is a secret undercover agent for the CIA. Hijinks ensue and Jen is stuck in the middle of fights, car chases and explosions.
Katherine Heigl is pretty much the gold standard in Hollywood right now. Since her leap from the small screen to feature films, Heigl has starred in three successful movies, with Knocked Up making $148 million. Granted, Knocked Up was made in the middle of the Apatow explosion, but 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth were anchored by her and were both lucrative features. Give her a brain tumor and let her have sex with her dead husband, put her in ridiculous dresses or have her wearing vibrating underwear at a dinner party, and people WILL go see it. It pains me to say it, but Heigl is this generation's Julia Roberts (somewhere Julia Roberts just got a pint of Chunky Monkey ice cream and curled up and cried watching My Best Friend’s Wedding). Heigl made the leap from small screen star to bankable It girl quite seamlessly, and she can only ride on her high horse so long before a film comes along and breaks the trend. Sadly, this will not be that film.
Ashton Kutcher has the looks but I can’t really picture him as a CIA operative. When I think of Kutcher, I don’t think charismatic and stealthy…I think of loud and obnoxious with ripped abs. The ripped abs is really all you need to have teen girls and lonely woman lining up at the multiplex. Kutcher’s box office success stories are few and far between, with Cheaper by the Dozen being his most profitable film (and that film didn’t make $138 million because of him). He has found recent success in What Happens in Vegas and Valentine’s Day, but I can’t think of one person who goes to a movie because it stars Kutcher. Kutcher made a smart career move by piggybacking on Heigl’s golden girl image. The chemistry between Heigl and Kutcher looks promising and with supporting players Catherine O'Hara and Tom Selleck in it, Killers has a shot at passing mediocrity.
Killers is like the ugly stepsister to Mr & Mrs. Smith. No one wants the ugly stepsister but when there is nothing else available they have to settle. If it outright fails (which it won’t), Heigl and Kutcher are safe. He’s got Demi Moore’s Ghost money to fall back on and she can make Zyzzyx Road 2. ( FYI-Zyzzyx Road is one of the lowest grossing films at the box office with a $30 gross and Heigl was the star.) (Ronnie Harvey/BOP)
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