No, I just had some ice cream

The Merry Gentleman

Crit

What sort of hitman rights a fallen magus in a churchyard crèche? The kind who, one enchanted work evening, meets a stranger across an uncrowded street through his rifle-mounted scope.

A film more interesting than good, Michael Keaton's directorial debut, in which he stars with Kelly Macdonald. There's little to complain about in the direction, but Ron Lazzeretti's script has people behaving oddly without really cluing us why.

On the other hand, the script includes one of the funniest jokes in history (see post title for punch line), which is not only told but deconstructed in painstaking/painful detail. You wonder who is responsible for the beautifully enigmatic ending. Of the film, i.e., not the joke.

One other strangeness: much of the film was shot in Chicago, but Keaton is careful to keep the sense of place so vague--those silly license plates from nowhere, e.g., and pains taken to avoid landmark architecture--that until the second glimpse of a subway car destination window, I wasn't certain we were in the Midwest, say nothing of the midwestern city I know best. Wonder why?

Trailers

• Bakjwi (Thirst)--Korean vampire flick? Oh, hell yes! But probably not as my one pre-Mets game Manhattan flick tomorrow.
• Moon--Sam Rockwell in a spin on 2001? Oh, hell yes!
• Whatever Works--If I'd seen the trailer without knowing who the director is, I'd have said no; as it is, I say only if it comes downtown.
• La fille de Monaco--The French often make this sort of tripe palatable, but I'm skeptical.