The Merry Gentleman

You might never have heard of this movie because I don't think it was every in wide release.  It does help answer the question, "Whatever happened to Michael Keaton?"  Since the Batman movies in the early 90s he's been in a few movies like "Jack Frost," "White Noise," and whatever the Lindsey Lohan Love Bug movie was called but nothing really major.  Someone could have started a death hoax on Twitter and it wouldn't have really surprised me because I hadn't really seen him in anything in so long.

In this case Keaton directs and stars in "The Merry Gentleman" as a hitman who like most hitmen in movies is starting to regret his choice of careers.  After completing an assignment to kill some old guy--who or why is never really said--he stands on the ledge of the building and contemplates jumping.  That is until Kate (Kelly MacDonald of "No Country for Old Men" and "Choke") sees him and screams, startling him so that he tumbles back safely.

Kate has recently come to Chicago from New York or some place like that after her husband gave her a black eye, which was probably the latest in a series of black eyes.  She's starting her life over again and has guys practically throwing themselves at her.  There's a guy at the office XMas party and one of the cops who investigates the murder of the guy Frank killed.  A dinner between the cop and Kate goes horribly wrong because she doesn't realize that he's making a move on her.

On the way home from this disastrous meeting, Kate decides to buy an XMas tree.  Unfortunately the tree is bigger than her, so that she has a terrible time getting up the stairs, until Frank shows up to help her with it.  In turn, Kate takes Frank the hospital when he passes out from pneumonia probably caused from too many cold Chicago nights on rooftops waiting to shoot people.

Naturally they begin to spend more time with each other, but things are bound to get complicated.

Don't get the wrong idea that this is a romantic comedy or even romantic in any way.  If there was any kissing it was pretty brief and there's no sex at all.  When Frank and Kate are hanging out they hardly say anything to each other because they're both keeping so much from each other.

That's the overriding problem with the movie.  It becomes frustrating because there's so much left unsaid and so much more that you'd like to know about Frank and Kate.  The way it ends was particularly unsatisfying.  Not that I necessarily want them to end kissing against the setting sun, but something a little more concrete would have been nice.

Overall this isn't a bad movie, but there's too much missing for it to be a great movie either.

That is all.

My score:  62/100 (2.5 stars)

Metacritic score:  55/100 (2 stars)