Rated PG-13 for violent action, sexual material and language, 100 minutes
No secret here: Awful "Killers" is DOA
Lionsgate, the studio behind the new action comedy "Killers" starring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher, is trying a new "marketing strategy" by not screening the film in advance for critics. This has worked well for Lionsgate with the "Saw" and Tyler Perry films, but those films have a niche audience who disregard what critics say. Don't believe the studio's strategy, "Killers" is a lousy, woefully unfunny movie and one of the worst romantic comedies to be released in 2010.
While on vacation with her parents (Tom Selleck and Catherine O' Hara), Jennifer Kornfeldt (Heigl), a beautiful young blonde who's just been dumped, meets Spencer Aimes (Kutcher), a good looking single man. The two begin to fall in love, but she doesn't know Spencer actually works for the CIA and in between the times they spend together chases and kills criminals. Spencer quits his job and they continue their relationship back home and rush into a quick marriage. They are happy together, but after three years people show up trying to kill Spencer, because of a huge reward that has been promised and Jennifer must help Spencer kill his enemies.
Now it's easy to see why Lionsgate didn't screen "Killers" in advance: it's a terrible, sloppy and laughfree movie with the most contrived plot seen in some time. Robert Luketic, who directed Heigl in last year's equally awful "The Ugly Truth," does nothing to generate any chemistry between Heigl, at her most annoyingly self-aware and shrill, and Kutcher, at his most bland. This tries to be "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," but news flash: Heigl and Kutcher aren't Jolie and Pitt.
It's been a long time since I've sit through a comedy and you could hear a pin drop in the theater with the lack of any laughter, chuckles or even murmurs. You'd think with someone like O'Hara chewing up the scenery it'd generate a few smiles, but she along with Selleck are wasted as the drunk mom and gruff dad. The fact that I didn't buy a single minute of this makes it all the more painful to sit through.
The only good thing "Killers" will do is make Heigl second guess leaving a good gig like TV's "Grey's Anatomy." (Note to Heigl: BIG mistake.) She and the handsome Kutcher, with zilcho chemistry, come across as flat and vastly overrated. A big disappointment and likely the first big flop of the summer.
