Action-comedy from the director of Legally Blonde and The Ugly Truth with Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl playing a married couple on the run from hired killers.
Spencer (Kutcher) is your run-of-the-mill undercover, government-hired super-assassin accustomed to a life of exotic European locales, sports cars and lovely ladies. Then he meets Jen (Heigl), an IT woman recovering from a bad break-up. They fall in love and Spencer hangs up his undercover boots. Three years later, the couple are living a picture-perfect marriage when he becomes the target of a multi-million dollar hit. The hired killers have been stalking the happy couple for years, and could be someone they know. So they take flight while trying to find out who wants Spencer dead, save their marriage, manage the in-laws and keep up neighbourly appearances.
One thing you couldn’t accuse Killers of is false advertising – the bland poster perfectly encapsulates everything this film has to offer. First-billed Katherine Heigl is gingerly holding a gun and looking surprised – all she really does in the movie is get flustered by guns and gunfire.
Kutcher stands there looking pretty with an exasperated facial expression that seems to say “Come on!”, which is all he really does in the movie as well. And his superlative attractiveness is a repeated talking point among the other characters. Did I mention he is a producer on the film?
It’s saying something about Kutcher’s deficit of personality that he manages to make Heigl seem spirited and full of life – at least she has some relative screen presence – but despite her efforts, the chemistry between the pair falls flat.
The opening half hour in Nice, France is, er, nice to look at. But it promises an international flavour the film can’t sustain. Whatever germ of an idea kicked off this project has long since been flattened out and the utterly nonsensical resolution reeks of endless re-writes.
In terms of watchability, I have pretty low standards for comedies both action and romantic, but even I was tested by Killers’ gaping lack of a single distinguishing characteristic.
By Dominic Corry, Flicks.co.nz
Light hearted and easy watching…with no expectations I was able to enjoy this. Its not ground breaking cinema or storyline but its entertaining and I liked those 2 together.
no stars for this... if you hate someone send them to it.
It seems it's no longer enough for a movie to be simply a romance, or a romantic-comedy.
Heigl and Kutcher make a cute enough couple, but a cringeworthy opening and ludicrous (even by the standards of the genre) ending mean that this is one to watch only when your brain is switched to the “off” position.
An action comedy that nearly renders the term an oxymoron, Killers is devoid of suspense and laughs.
Is it some monstrosity of awfulness, as its lack of advance screening suggested? No, that would imply at least a spark of some kind. This is just an empty summer hodgepodge of stale romantic comedy exchanges, witlessness and lackluster action.
Unless you’re trapped on an airplane or enjoying movie night at the penitentiary, you have no excuse for watching Killers. A brain-deadening collision of high concept and low standards.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 29th Jul 2010.
Release date: July 29th 2010.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
