Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #56 Grosse Pointe Blank

Box Office: $28.1 Million

Oscar Nominations: None

Oscar Wins: None

MovieRankings.Net: 74/100

Available To Stream: Roku, Paramount+, Amazon Prime ($4)

Grosse Pointe Blank is a great example of a movie that probably only could have been made in the 1990's. A hitman goes back to his hometown for his 10th high school reunion based on his advice from his psychiatrist. It was a very creative concept at the time and shows that came after like The Sopranos and especially Barry share sensibilities. The cast is great with John Cusack at his most charming (and before he went crazy) and Minnie Driver as one of the coolest girls you'll see in a movie. Mix that with a phenomenal  80's soundtrack and it's a fantastic movie. If thought of today, maybe it would have been a series on HBO but there is no way a unique idea like this is going to be released in theaters in 2023.

There a two very different supporting actor performances in this as well. Jeremy Piven is great as Cusack's best friend who hasn't seen him since high school ended. I love how the movie shows that those old friends will do anything for you. They'll be pissed about it but that kind of loyalty is something you can only find with people you went to school with. On the other side is Dan Aykroyd's competing hitman. He is a walking cartoon in a movie filled with rich, layered performances. Check out that picture above. No one is anyone going to be smiling there. I know sociopaths exist but are they grinning and saying lame one-liners while they are fighting for their lives? It injects needless "humor" in an otherwise fantastic story. It's my only real issue with the movie.

Other than getting into an argument with White Sox Dave, has John Cusack's career been a disappointment? He's been the star of some very good movies (Eight Men Out, Say Anything…, Being John Malkovitch (86th), High Fidelity) but was never nominated for an Academy Award. His movie choices since 2011 have been horrible. He's been in at last 14 direct-to-video movies since then and his career seems all but over. This was a guy who was once the love interest of Julia Roberts in a movie literally called America's Sweethearts.

The story of the guy who wrote Grosse Pointe Blank is one I think of often. Tom Jankiewicz was a substitute teacher who was also working part-time at Big Lots when he got invited to his 10th high school reunion. He wrote and then shopped the script for a couple of years. Eventually John Cusack got involved and it got greenlit into production. It wound up being the only movie Jankiewicz is credited for. He spent the next decade or so shopping other specs and working as a script doctor punching up scripts. In 2013, he was attending a screening of Grosse Pointe Blank at his brother's college. During a Q&A with the audience after the movie, he collapsed and died from natural causes at the age of 49. Some people only have one good story in them. There is no shame in that. Jankiewicz had a pretty great one.

56. Grosse Pointe Blank

57. Independence Day

58. The Rainmaker

59. Go

60. The Firm

61. Magnolia

62. The Talented Mr. Ripley

63. Tommy Boy

64. The Usual Suspects

65. In The Line Of Fire

66. My Cousin Vinny

67. Awakenings

68. JFK

69. Toy Story

70. Home Alone

71. Jerry Maguire

72. Titanic

73. Billy Madison

74. Apollo 13

75. Braveheart

76. Edward Scissorhands

77. Cape Fear

78. The River Wild

79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

80. 12 Monkeys

81. Stir Of Echoes

82. Mission: Impossible

83. Total Recall

84. Quiz Show

85. For Love Of The Game

86. Being John Malkovich

87. Men In Black

88. Scream

89. Alive

90. Three Kings

91. Glengarry Glen Ross

92. Die Hard With A Vengeance

93. The Blair Witch Project

94. Twister

95. Dirty Work

96. Election

97. Tremors

98. Any Given Sunday

99. The Wedding Singer

100. Clerks