The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

Director:

Jonathan Lynn

Writer (WGA):

Mitchell Kapner (written by)

Release Date:

18 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In the heart of suburbia, a hit man with heart has just moved in.

Plot:

Nick is a struggling dentist in Canada. A new neighbor moves in, and he discovers that it is Jimmy "The Tulip" Teduski. His wife convinces him to go to Chicago and inform the mob boss who wants Jimmy dead.

Plot Keywords:

Tulip | Dentist | Neighbor | Canada | Hitman

Awards:

4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 30	1:30 PM	AMC
Tue. Dec. 1	11:00 AM	AMC

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski
Matthew Perry	...	Nicholas 'Oz' Oseransky
Rosanna Arquette	...	Sophie Oseransky
Michael Clarke Duncan	...	Franklin 'Frankie Figs' Figueroa
Natasha Henstridge	...	Cynthia Tudeski
Amanda Peet	...	Jill St. Claire
Kevin Pollak	...	Janni Pytor Gogolak
Harland Williams	...	Special Agent Steve Hanson
Carmen Ferland	...	Sophie's Mom (as Carmen Ferlan)
Serge Christianssens	...	Mr. Boulez
Renee Madeline Le Guerrier	...	Waitress (as Renée Madelaine Le Guerrier)
Jean-Guy Bouchard	...	Mover
Howard Bilerman	...	Dave Martin
Johnny Goar	...	Hungarian Hood
Deano Clavet	...	Polish Pug

Also Known As:

Le nouveau voisin (Canada: French title)
Üheksa jardi (Estonia) [et]
Bérgyilkos a szomszédom (Hungary) [hu]
FBI: Protezione testimoni (Italy) [it]
Falsas Aparências (Portugal) [pt]
Falsas apariencias (Spain) [es]
Full pakke (Norway) [no]
Keine halben Sachen (Germany) [de]
Koko potti (Finland) [fi]
Komsum bir katil (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Meu Vizinho Mafioso (Brazil) [pt]
Mi vecino, el asesino (Argentina) [es]
Mon voisin le tueur (France) [fr]
Ni fod under (Denmark) [da]
Oss torpeder emellan (Sweden) [sv]
Ubica mekog srca (Serbia) [sr]

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | French | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Colombia:12 | Finland:K-14 | France:U | Germany:16 (w) | Hong Kong:IIB | New Zealand:M | Norway:15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Chicago Tribune - 435 N. Michigan Avenue, Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Franchise Pictures

Trivia:

In the sequence of flashing newspapers depicting Jimmy the Tulip, along with a Die Hard 2 (1990) promotional still is also a still from The Jackal (1997), where the character is seated at the desk, cigar in hand, ordering the machine gun over the computer.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: At the end, Oz and Cynthia are seen dancing in what looks to be wedding attire. The divorce between Oz and Sophie was referred to in the interrogation scene.

Quotes:

Oz: All right, maybe he won't come after us. Maybe he'll just let us go.
[Cynthia just looks at him]
Oz: All right, maybe I can talk with him, reason with him. I mean, we're friends now, right?
Cynthia: That's what Harry Lefkowitz thought.
Oz: What happened to Harry Lefkowitz?
[Cynthia just looks at him]
Oz: I don't want to know what happened to Harry Lefkowitz.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Jack Black/Neil Young (#31.9)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

I Don't Worry About A Thing

"The Odd Couple" with a body count

THE WHOLE NINE YARDS (2000) ** Matthew Perry, Bruce Willis, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Pollak, Harlan Williams.

Matthew Perry is one of my favorite comedic actors in that he's kind of a throwback to the light comedy fare of Jack Lemmon and Tom Hanks: handsome, charming and an utter neurotic mess with a sharp self-deprecating wit with his nonchalant sarcastic jibing that is all play and totally harmless, with a twist of slapstick. Here all of that is on display with a finely tuned tailor made character not unlike his tv alter ego, Chandler Bing (love that name!) from `Friends'.

Oz Oseransky is a mild-mannered affable dentist whose life is in flux when his trampy French accented wife Sophie (Arquette in full blown voluptuosness) decides she wants to end their marriage. But not by the usual traditional method of divorce or anulment; instead she takes out a contract on his life Enter newly arrived next-door-neighbor Jimmy `The Tulip' Tudeski (Willis in barely restrained comic form) a hitman keeping it low since there's a contract on him by a really ticked off Russian thug (Pollak oozing Eurotrash unctuousness). But when Oz's wife approaches him he is hard-pressed to do what comes natural since Oz turns out to be the good neighbor he never had and an unlikely ally as things progress in the plotline that eventually involves Jimmy's estranged, va-va-va voom wife Cynthia (Henstridge, best known as the sexy alien in the `Species' sci-fi flicks) who wants a divorce but knows that it's more likely a hit would be necessary.

Meanwhile Oz is struck by love at first sight when he meets Mrs. Jimmy and winds up bedding her (in spite of the fact he knows who Jimmy is after some hilarious reaction shots as the story moves on with each new trickle of information on his new `friend'), which only complicates things when Jimmy announces he is going to `whack' her and Janni, the mad Russian.

Perry is a marvelous reactionary actor and plays very well off a unique ensemble including the babelicious Peet as Jill, his receptionist- turned - assassin - wannabe , who has a knack for displaying her natural assets to dissuade any potential violent threat and Duncan (recently nominated for a Best Supporting Actor as the gentle giant in `The Green Mile') has a sweet low-key turn as the hulking pal of Willis who provides some funny sight gags (including his first meeting with Perry who literally bounces off this wall of a man).

Yet no matter how game the cast is - including off the wall comic Harland Williams as another seedy character who doesn't appear to be who he claims to be - and the fast pace of the storyline, there aren't that many memorable lines of dialogue or full grasp that a lethal killer like Jimmy actually has a heart of gold for the likes of a schnook like Oz.

It would be easy to blame the less than compelling story line on screenwriter Mitchell Kapner (who gives an original spin on a plot twist and complex scenario involving dental records and a corpse) or director Jonathan Lynn (`My Cousin Vinny'), but both make the best overall. It just isn't a fresh idea (think of `The In-Laws' which set the high water mark for odd couple/fish-out-of-water hybrid with a criminal element) that seems to hook the attention of a much needed audience. But it is divertingly fun just to see Perry slamming himself silly like a pinball.