"The Whole
Nine Yards" may be the most successful film so far for any of the male
castmembers of "Friends" (Courtney Cox was in the "Scream"
movies, so she leads the pack of females). Of course, it helps when Bruce
Willis is in the movie.
Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry ("Chandler" from "Friends")
are perfectly cast as the tough guy and the wuss. I gotta give Matthew Perry
lotsa credit for all the beatings he took. His physical comedy (which he's
very good at, by the way) looks very painful. Michael Clarke Duncan is also
in the movie as Willis' bodyguard (the guy is playing a bodyguard again).
This is a good role for him though, especially after his spectacular dramatic
performance in "The
Green Mile" (he was "John Coffey," the death row inmate).
However, Amanda Peet steals this movie from all of 'em. I don't think I've
ever seen her before, but she's been in 20 movies, most of which I never
heard of, in the last five years. She's been keeping herself very busy recently,
and there's a reason for it. She's great. Amanda Peet totally lights up
the screen, and I KNOW that we're gonna be seeing a lot more of her in the
future (you see quite a bit of her in THIS movie too, if you catch my meaning...
wink wink). She's beautiful, she's a great actress, and she has perfect
comedic timing. Go on, girl! Not all the performances were good, though.
Rosanna Arquette, usually a pretty good actress, had this terrible French-Canadian
accent. Ick. Also, Kevin Pollak (Arnold Schwarzeneggar's partner in the
lame "End
of Days" and Rachael Leigh Cook's father in the oddly endearing
"She's
All That") was another one with a bad accent. I guess it was supposed
to be a Chicago accent, but I didn't buy it.
Jonathan Lynn directed this movie, and he has a good track record with comedies.
He also directed "Trial & Error," "Greedy," "The
Distinguished Gentleman" (one of Eddie Murphy's most underrated movies),
and "Clue." He also happened to direct one of my favorite comedies
of all-time, "My Cousin Vinny." I have a feeling (though I could
be wrong, and I usually am) that the mobsters in "The Whole Nine Yards"
were originally supposed to be Italian-Americans, but because he lampooned
Italian-Americans so much in "My Cousin Vinny," changes were made
to the script. Again, I'm not reporting facts, I'm merely speculating. As
for the script, it was written by Mitchell Kapner, a guy I never heard of.
The only thing I know about him is that he helped to write "Romeo Must
Die," the upcoming "Romeo & Juliet" update (yep, another
one) starring Jet Li. I really wanna see that one.
"The Whole Nine Yards" was very cute, and it had some really funny
moments, but it's not all that satisfying, and I didn't like it as much
as I should have. I'm not sure if it was because of how corny it got, or
if it was Rosanna Arquette's annoying, unconvincing, French-Canadian accent.
Maybe it was both, maybe it was neither. Though the movie isn't all that
great, I laughed several times, and the performances by Bruce Willis, Matthew
Perry, Michael Clarke Duncan, and (especially) Amanda Peet make "The
Whole Nine Yards" worth watching nevertheless.