You Kill Me
IFC Films | Release Date: June 22, 2007 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
3
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Frank (Ben Kingsley) meets Laurel (Tea Leoni), a woman who has been around the block a time or 200, and she likes Frank's directness, while he likes her unflappability. This is one of the greatest screwball relationships in years. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Cuddlier and more charming, this alcoholic-hitman comedy isn’t your typical Dahl noir (The Last Seduction, Red Rock West), but it is offbeat, lovably deadpan, and just tart enough. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Leoni is one of the truly distinctive comic actresses we have in the movies today, a tough broad with murderously effective timing and phrasing. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The acting is fine -- and so is the moody-blues direction -- but, given the subject matter, the movie should be blacker and more disturbing. Read full review
75
USA TodayScott Bowles
Surely there aren't many emotionally fragile mobster stories left in the Hollywood arsenal. But at least Kill is a pretty good shot with the laughs. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Director John Dahl keeps a firm hand on Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's razor-sharp hit-man-in-rehab comedy, which mines the same dark vein as "Gross Pointe Blank"(1997) and "Matador"(2005), and the payoff is both slily funny and startlingly fresh. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's the best role in years for Leoni, but You Kill Me really belongs to Kingsley, whose character's deadpan reactions to his new environment are priceless. He really kills. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Dahl found the right actors for every part - Bill Pullman as the cynical Realtor hired to look after Frank, Luke Wilson as the gay AA member assigned as Frank's sponsor, and the always amusing Dennis Farina as Irish mobster Edward O'Leary. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
You Kill Me kills you softly with its smiles. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's a predictable but acridly pleasant 12-step bonbon: self-help noir. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
A deviously delightful entertainment. Read full review
70
VarietyRonnie Scheib
With an eclectic mix of strong-minded thesps all pulling in slightly different directions, this shape-shifting genre hybrid successfully commingles 12-step therapy, romantic comedy and hit-man thriller. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Its razor-sharp script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and the hilariously deadpan comic performances by Ben Kingsley and Tea Leoni make it a consistent pleasure. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
We've seen the inner lives of hit men and mobsters rendered innumerably in recent years on film and television, but You Kill Me does it in a satisfyingly comedic way, loaded with easily identifiable idiosyncrasies. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Even if you can't accept all the movie's left curves, you might still be amused. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Straight-up ridiculous, but it's also consistently funny and nicely played by a well-complemented cast that finds its collective groove and never misses a beat. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
I don't want to oversell You Kill Me. It is not going to leave you breathless with laughter. But I don't want to undersell it either. For an hour and a half it exerts its own preposterous reality, making you believe it -- and like it. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
In other hands with another cast, You Kill Me might easily have proven just another modest production indulging in mob violence and postmodern irony. There certainly is no shortage of those. Dahl’s latest, however, is something more than a modest production. It’s a small wonder. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubStaff (Not credited)
The main pleasure lies in watching a cast filled with fine character actors like Kingsley, Farina, Hall, and Bill Pullman work their way around the salty, noir-inflected dialogue. It's just unfortunate that those lines add up to such piffle. Read full review
63
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Leoni's presence adds a jolt of energy to a movie that, while not necessarily worth going out of your way for, turns out to be a lot more clever than it initially appears. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
You Kill Me is pretty light, but it's well made, and within the built-in limitations of its story -- a hit man goes to Alcoholics Anonymous -- it's fairly pleasing. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
You Kill Me is not so much a bad film as one filled with missed potential and marked by the seams of compromise. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Dahl has directed half a dozen sardonic noir movies, dating back to "Kill Me Again" in 1989, so he should have been the ideal choice for this material. But even he can't make chicken salad from a pile of beaks, bones and claws. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Inert dud of a hitmen-are-people-too comedy. Read full review
20
Village VoiceScott Foundas
The past decade has been less kind to Dahl, and though his latest, called You Kill Me, has the outward appearance of a return to form, it may in fact be the worst thing he's ever done--an inert, tone-deaf mélange of "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under." Read full review
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