I Love You to Death
April. 06,1990 RJoey Boca is the owner of a pizza parlour, and has been married to Rosalie for years. When Rosalie discovers that Joey is a womanizer and has been cheating on her for a long time, she goes to extreme lengths to punish him.
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Reviews
Very well executed
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Fantastic!
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Let me start to say that this little 'under the radar' black comedy flick, it's one of my all time favorites from the genre and a severly underrated film that deserved a much better praise and needs to be rediscovered as a comedy gold cult film nowadays.Lawrence Kasdan, who never disappointed (at least during the 80's, until the mid 90's) directed this quirky story based on actual facts about an italian womanizer, Joey Boca (Kline), the chauvinist owner of a Pizza Parlor, who repeatedly cheats on his devoted wife, Rosalie (Ullman), even if her loyal employer, Devo (Phoenix) and his eccentric mother, Nadja (Plowright) were trying to warn her against Joey's way of life. When Rosalie catches him cheating on her in a public library, she bows to revenge for years of infidelity and with the support of Mother Nadja, Devo and two doped (un)professional killers (Reeves & Hurt) they plan to eliminate him, but a sinful task like this, will not be easy to concretize...Kasdan was always a great director of actors, since his debut in "Body Heat" ('81) to "The Big Chill" ('83), "Silverado" ('85) or "The Accidental Tourist" ('88), his entire cast always gave superb performances way adequated to the given material and "I Love You to Death" is not an exception. Kevin Kline, one of the funniest actors that ever graced the screen, fresh from his truly deserved Oscar win for "A Fish Called Wanda" the year before and collaborating with the director for the 3rd time, is splendid and hilarious playing Joey Boca, a derivative performance of his Otto character from "Wanda", but equally effective and stealing every scene he's in.Tracey Ullman is impressive in her first co-leading role in a theatrical released picture, but veteran Dame Joan Plowright as her cranky Serbo-Croatian Mother Nadja, delivers a marvellous performance, her responses and facial expressions' are a riot to follow.River Phoenix is ok playing Devo, practically playing himself at that time. William Hurt (joining Kasdan for the 4th time) & Keanu Reeves as the two hippie druggies, play one of the most memorable screen duo in a comedy movie ever (Cheech & Chong next to them look like a pair of lucid fellas), it needs to be seen to be believed, even the always subpar, Keanu, delivers here probably one of his best performances, some may say that he's just playing a part of himself, but so as River, the main difference is that the River's role and performance are bland & merely passable and Keanu is extremely amusing.The movie also features an early appearance on-screen by Heather Graham and a cameo by Phoebe Cates (from the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" & "Gremlins" fame), the real life wife of lead star, Kevin Kline, who shot the scene with her husband in a break of filming "Drop Dead Fred" ('91).The music score by James Horner is spot-on to the events on the screen and largely contribute to the burlesque feeling of the whole.In short, "I Love You to Death" is a skillfully directed farce from a delightfully immoral screenplay from John Kostmayer and a 'must-see' for fans of such movies as "A Fish Called Wanda" ('88); "Weekend at Bernie's" ('89); "Oscar" ('91) or "My Cousin Vinny" ('92). If you not find this movie funny, you surely needs to check your head.My rate is a 9.5, near the perfection of a 10 star movie !!
What can I say? I love this movie. It's a dark comedy and a very intelligent one. All the actors were great but some of my favourites must be the pot heads Hurt and Reeves that were delicious and I just couldn't get enough of. Plowright was yet another character that I simply loved, so natural and credible, as the adorable diabolic grandma. I also loved Phoenix as the innocent boy in love, it's a strange feeling watching him though knowing that he died so young. Kline's character was a bit stereotypical as the womanizer Italian,that all women loved, but it worked. Overall a great movie, funny and entertaining. A very well written and acted comedy, with lots of good actors.
Loosely based on an attempted murder that happened in 1984, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where a women named Frances Toto repeatedly tried to kill her husband, Anthony, 'I Love You to Death' is An Entertaining Black-Comedy with Memorable Performances! 'I Love You to Death' Synopsis: Joey owns a pizza parlor, and is married to Rosalee, and is a major womanizer. Rosalee goes to extremes when she finds he has been cheating.'I Love You to Death' is also nicely written by John Kostmayer. He creates a world of love & crime with a sense of humor & sadistic pleasure. Lawrence Kasdan's Direction, as always, is skilled. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are good.Performance-Wise: Kevin Kline is extra-ordinary, as always. Kline's range as an actor is truly remarkable. Tracey Ullman is wonderful. Joan Plowright is just right. The Late/Great River Phoenix is impressive, while William Hurt & Keanu Reeves deliver some of the best laughs. On the whole, 'I Love You to Death' is an effort well-done.
Joey works with Rosalie in their pizza parlour.She is convinced that he works all of the time for them and her world dissolves when she finds that he has been cheating on her for years.Being Catholic, divorce is out of the question, so she and her mother and her best friend decide to kill him.Hopelessly incompetent as killers, they hire incompetent professionals as they beat, poison, and shoot Joey, who remains oblivious to their attempts.....Very loosely based on a true story, this film is one of those old fashioned farces that we haven't seen in years.Inexplicably ignored on release, and to some extent ever since, this film does drag a little toward the end, but thanks to some great characters and Kline in one of his best roles, it has some truly funny moments.Reeves and Hurt almost steal the whole movie as the drug addicted hit men, using physical comedy as much as verbal, when they are on screen, the film is at it's most entertaining.Ullman is okay, but she is overshadowed by Plowright, who is basically in every scene Ullman is in.The script is sharp and very observant, and despite the sickly sweet ending, it has a very dark streak running through the movie.Funny and at times very slapstick, it will put a smile on your face.Be sure to catch it when it's on TV.