Movie Review: Killers

Killers: The family that slays together, stays together. Photo / Supplied

Rating: 1.5/5
Verdict: Not tortuous, not unwatchable, but not good.

Is it just me, or is Katherine Heigl stuck on infinite repeat, doing essentially the same lacklustre rom-com time after time?

Actually, that's not true - this one is worse than usual. Vying for the title of Queen of Rom-coms (Knocked Up, 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth), the girl who shot to fame in TV's Grey's Anatomy treads familiar territory in this action-comedy by Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic. Think Mr and Mrs Smith meets The Truman Show meets Knocked Up.

Heigl plays rich daddy's girl Jen, a control freak who always plays it safe. Except when she falls for Spencer (Ashton Kutcher) during a holiday with her parents in France. What Jen doesn't know is that Spencer is a spy/hired killer who only swapped shooting for suburbia when they met. Awwgh. After the requisite sappy montage, they're installed behind a white picket fence.

However, their shiny life is interrupted three years later, when Spencer says no to a job and suddenly there's a bounty on his head. "Is anyone not trying to kill me?" he wonders, and that's one of the script's high points (along with: "It's still me, I just have a different resume.").

Even while they're being shot at, the couple continue their domestic about her smothering parents. As you do. But that's only one reason why this fatuous fluff falls flat. Kucher, who's also producer, is too busy showing off his French and "physical godlike" (yes, that's an actual quote) body to do much real acting, while Heigl's fizzy character is just plain irritating. Add lazy stereotypes like the alcoholic mother and overprotective father, and very little is new or funny here. Not tortuous, not unwatchable, but not good.

Cast: Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara
Director: Robert Luketic
Rating: M
Runtime: 100 mins
Out now

-Herald On Sunday / View