Review: Mr. Right

"OK, whatever," one character sighs upon seeing a dead body sprawled on the apartment floor in the romantic comedy, Mr. Right, but the remark may as well be applied to the film itself. Exhaustingly cute and knowingly senseless, it's further evidence that screenwriter Max Landis' feature film debut, the ingenious Chronicle, may have been an aberration. Combined with the recent American Ultra, it would seem Landis should avoid any attempts at comedy altogether, but he was also the scribe behind the execrable Victor Frankenstein so drama isn't exactly his forte either. Say a prayer for the upcoming Power Rangers movie.

Mr. Right isn't quite as much fun as it believes itself to be, though the little fun there is to be had derives from stars Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell as the blithely insane romantic pair who meet cute over falling packets of condoms in a convenience store. She's Martha, fresh off a breakup and determined to unleash her inner T-Rex and do something terrible. He's Francis, a reformed contract killer who, instead of doing away with the intended targets, offs the people who hired him. His newfound morality inconveniences his former mentor, Hopper (Tim Roth), who is now out to get him. So are a pair of gangster brothers, Vaughn (James Ransone) and Richard (Anson Mount), because...oh, who cares.

There's also some blather about Francis being able to harness "the sweeping current" and go with its flow. In short, he can dodge bullets and catch knives. Martha bops along with her new beau's casual references to killing people, believing his comments to be part and parcel of his oh-so-kooky charm. Naturally, she soon discovers he's completely serious, distances herself for about half a millisecond, and decides to join in on the probably dangerous but always wacky shenanigans.

Landis' winking take on the rom-com conventions isn't particularly clever, nor is Paco Cabezas' direction especially disciplined. Deranged lunacy prevails, from the deliberately outlandish attire worn by Martha and Francis to Roth's intentionally terrible Louisiana accent to the slow motion shots peppered throughout the film. In and of themselves, the scenes between Kendrick and Rockwell feature a sprightly chemistry as well as the anarchic spirit that undergirded the screwball comedies of yesteryear. Their combined appeal doesn't quite salvage Mr. Right, but it at least makes it watchable.

Mr. Right

Directed by: Paco Cabezas

Written by: Max Landis

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Tim Roth, James Ransone, Michael Eklund, Anson Mount, Katie Nehra, RZA