Wild Target: movie review
If comedy, as the comedians say, is not pretty, then black comedy is downright ugly.
鈥淲ild Target,鈥� starring Bill Nighy as a repressed hit man and Emily Blunt as the sexy free spirit he can鈥檛 find it in himself to eradicate, is practically a text book in how ugly things can get when you don鈥檛 have the right, light touch for this sort of thing.
Nighy鈥檚 Victor was literally raised from the cradle by his hit-man father to follow in the profession. His doting, controlling mother (Eileen Atkins) keeps a scrapbook of newspaper clippings of his high-profile hits. All this explains why Victor doesn鈥檛 have very good people skills.
Director Jonathan Lynn and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon have adapted Pierre Salvadori鈥檚 "Cible Emouvante," which is described in the film鈥檚 production notes as a 鈥渃lassic French comedy鈥� 鈥� although I鈥檝e never heard of it 鈥� and perhaps this is the core problem. French farce doesn鈥檛 mix well with English gooniness. Grade: C (Rated PG-13 for violence, some sexual content, and brief strong language.)
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