GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

KrakatoaEnt317 Are you fan of dark comedies? Do you enjoy films about Hit men? If you answered yes to these questions you will most likely enjoy this film. This movie shows the rise & fall between these two cold blooded characters. It's really fascinating to see how they both change with each kill. There is a great mix of violence & humor in "Jerry and Tom". Written by Rick Cleveland based on his play (Runaway Jury & Six Feet Under) & directed by long time actor Saul Rubinek (Frasier, The Contender, Death Wish V, True Romance, & Unforgiven) in his debut. It really stands out from all those other flicks about contract killers. You need to check out this unknown gem....Now on to the cast/characters....First we got Jerry played by Sam Rockwell (Choke, Matchstick Men, Welcome to Collinwood, Heist, The Green Mile, Safe Men, Lawn Dogs, Box of Moon Light, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, & Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) he's a newcomer to the contract killer business who ends up loving his job a little too much plus he's not that smart. Then we got Tom played by Joe Mantegna (House of Games, The Godfather: Part III, Homicide, Bugsy, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Airheads, Albino Alligator, Thinner, The Last Don 1/2, Joan of Arcadia, Criminal Minds, & The Simpsons -Fat Tony-) he's the veteran of the duo who teaches Jerry everything he knows about contract killing. Then there's the supporting cast of Maury Chaykin (Death Hunt, The Hunt for the BTK Killer, Nero Wolfe Mystery, Sugartime, Devil in a Blue Dress, & Twins) as Billy, he's the boss who sets everything up plus he owns the car dealership they work at when their not killing people. Then there's his long time partner Vic played by Charles Durning (The Sting, Breakheart Pass, Sisters, Dog Day Afternoon, The Fury, When a Stranger Calls, The Hudsucker Proxy, Evening Shade, State and Main, & Rescue Me) who's a former contract killer himself who actually taught Tom everything he knows. He may or may not have killed JFK, Elvis, and a bunch of other celebs plus he wants to write a book about it. Plus we get some great cameos from their victims such as Ted Danson, William H. Macy, Peter Riegert, & Sarah Polley.

innocuous Worth renting, but not buying.The plot is absolutely, 100%, stone-cold predictable simply from the premise. Still, Rubinek does an excellent job with his main gimmick for the film...smooth, seamless scene transitions between different time periods and geographic locations. They are worth waiting for.The movie is a black comedy, but I didn't really find much humor in the wry situations. I'm not sure if they were not-enough or a little-too-much.Mantegna goes a bit overboard in playing the laid-back "button man" as part-philosopher and part-salesman, but he does an adequate job. Sam Rockwell fares better as the kid who grows into the profession, enjoying it a bit more than he probably should. His desire to do something in a way that's "different" reminds me of a newly-wed couple looking for that new sexual position.Durning is wasted in his role, as we never take him seriously as a threat to anyone, much less as a stone-cold killer. Chaykin fares better as a basically inscrutable "boss" who pulls the strings through some sort of managerial fog.The cameos by Macy and Danson are good, but a bit strained. We're so busy watching them as victims in inescapable circumstances that we don't keep them in the proper perspective. The bit parts they play are overwhelmed by our expectations.I enjoyed the movie, but, if you really want an interesting take on the "old hit-man bringing along a younger guy", try ,"Cohen & Tate" (1989), which I find has much more interesting dynamics between the protagonists.

bob the moo Tom (Mantega) and Jerry (Chaykin) are experienced hit men waiting in a bar for a phone call to do their next job who currently is tied up before them. We then jump back 10 years to find a much younger Jerry and Tom, and we trace their development throughout the years.And that's the plot. There isn't a huge amount of plot here but plenty of story if you appreciate the difference. The story follows Jerry from a car salesman who gets accidentally involved in his first hit, through the years as he develops more and more of a taste for the killing, while Tom is heading the other way as the more mature hit man who is losing his taste for the whole thing. However the thin plot is greatly enriched by making the characters the story.Of the two leads Jerry is the most interesting to watch as he changes the most notably over the film, but Mantegna's Tom is as good as a more stable foil for Jerry. The strength is in the wealth of wonderful characters that surround them. The various victims all have their amusing quirks and are well played by good actors (William H Macy, Ted Danson, Peter Riegert), while other supporting roles such as Vic and Billy (Durning and Chaykin) are great.The whole story is bristling with comedy and style. The stories the characters tell and the things they say are brilliant, including flashback stories of Elvis, JFK and others are really funny, while other conversations (such as who play them in a movie - "Don Knotts!") are inspired in their hilarity but also their normality.The director Saul Rubinek is very clever in his direction. We skip through time to other stories using editing that gently glides one scene into another - it's really effective and always clever. In fact he brings clever touches to all the film. Even the closing credit sequences have a wonderful old-fashioned feel to them as each character appears onscreen to wave to the audience - it's also a bit surreal given what we've just watched. I also admire the way that very little violence is show on screen - because that's not what this is about. The killing is often hinted at rather than shown and this allows us to focus on the stories and the comedy rather than the moral difficulty behind what you're seeing.The film is funny throughout but it does have it's thoughtful moments and the conclusion is actually quite moving. The only faults with this is that the hit man genre is not exactly new ground and this type of story has been done before. Also some may find the lack of plot to be frustrating or boring and find themselves unable to enjoy the stories within.Overall though, this is a light little gem that draws it's comedy from the stories and the characters within the film. This is filled with clever and funny touches from the opening bar scene right down to the old-fashioned credit scene and Danson's accreditation as "man who loved Vicki".

dwpollar 1st watched 4/1/2001 - 7 out of 10(Dir-Saul Rubinek): Witty, black comedy with terrific performances by Mantegna and Sam Rockwell. This is the kind of movie that is somewhat of a guilty pleasure because there are times when you're laughing as someone is getting killed or at least in the process of being killed. This is definetly the intent of filmmaker Saul Rubinek where there is a mix of normal guy(who happens to be a hitman)and hitmen(who just happen to own a used car lot). The movie starts out in the present as it appears Jerry and Tom are waiting to "do" another person, and then takes you back ten years to show you how Jerry got involved in the business that Tom already has been doing for many years. There isn't much morality here and really no lessons are taught but that's ok it's just a movie, and a pretty good one at that.