I Love You to Death (1990)

Joey owns a pizza parlor, and is married to Rosalee, and is a major womanizer. Rosalee goes to extremes when she finds he has been cheating.

Director:

Lawrence Kasdan

Writer:

John Kostmayer

Stars:

Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Kline	...	Joey Boca
Tracey Ullman	...	Rosalie Boca
Joan Plowright	...	Nadja, Rosalie's Mother
River Phoenix	...	Devo Nod
William Hurt	...	Harlan James
Keanu Reeves	...	Marlon James
James Gammon	...	Lt. Larry Schooner
Jack Kehler	...	Sgt. Carlos Wiley
Victoria Jackson	...	Lacey
Miriam Margolyes	...	Joey's Mother
Alisan Porter	...	Carla Boca
Jon Kasdan	...	Dominic Boca
Heather Graham	...	Bridget
Michelle Joyner	...	Donna Joy
John Kostmayer	...	Benny

Storyline

Joey works with Rosalie in their pizza parlor. She is convinced that he works all of the time for them and her world dissolves when she finds that he has been fooling around for years. Being Catholic, divorce is out of the question, so she and her mother and her best friend decide to kill him. Hopelessly incompetent as killers, they hire incompetent professionals as they beat, poison, and shoot Joey who remains oblivious to their attempts.

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Plot Keywords:

pizza | mother | philanderer | revenge | spaghetti | 

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Taglines:

An unbelievable story that's incredibly true.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Serbo-Croatian

Release Date:

6 April 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ich liebe Dich zu Tode

Filming Locations:

Antique's Row, Tacoma, Washington, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$16,186,793 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chestnut Hill Productions, TriStar Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Loosely based on the true story of Frances Toto and her four unsucessful attempts to kill her cheating husband, Anthony Toto, in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1984. Anthony spent four days in bed after being drugged and shot by Frances and her friends; who spent four years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

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Goofs

When the family is arguing at the restaurant and the waitress can't put the food on the table, she says that she'll "just come back later" and walks away with the food. But when the son interrupts the argument, saying that he hurt his finger, they suggest just eating their meals and do so even though the waitress never came back with the food.

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Quotes

Rosalie Boca: They look like drug addicts.
Devo Nod: Well, they are drug addicts.
Rosalie Boca: Oh my God. You hired drug addicts?
Devo Nod: Who'd you expect me to hire? The Red Cross?
Nadja: They seem like very polite boys.
Rosalie Boca: I don't like having drug addicts in my house.
Nadja: Oh no, Rosalie. Don't think of them as drug addicts. Think of them as killers.

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Connections

Featured in The Directors: The Films of Lawrence Kasdan

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Soundtracks

"Felicia"
Written by Warren Wiegratz & Peter Safir
Performed by Oceans
Courtesy of Pro Jazz

User Reviews

Strange-But-True Characters In Dark Comedy

A surprise hit....at least with me. I found this dark comedy hilarious in spots and so-so in others, but overall a funny movie. With comedy that's what happens anyway: some jokes connect; others don't. Most are pretty good in here but beware: some of the jokes are in poor taste, but that's a dark comedy for you. Also, some Catholics might be offended because the film takes some shots at them, or at least people who go overboard in rationalizing their sins, as Kevin Kline does in here.

There is an odd assortment of actors in here and they all contribute to the fun: Kline, Tracey Ullman, William Hurt, River Phoenix, Keannu Reeves, Joan Plowright and James Gammon.

Supposedly, this film was based on a real-life happening, which makes it all the more interesting and lending credence to the saying that "truth is stranger than fiction."

Plowright almost steals the show from Kline and Ullman, the husband-and-wife team who have problems because of Kline's persistent cheating on her. Plowright in Ullman's mother and has some of the best lines in the film as mother and daughter plot how to kill the immoral Kline.

Phoenis plays a young New Age devotee and Hurt and Reeves are funny as two totally stoned-out hit men. Hurt is particularly good.

This movie is so-so to start until Ullman finds her husband cheating. Then, after a heart-wrenching minute or so, she and her mother plot to kill the unfaithful spouse. The comedy then goes full out as they hire these really goofy hit men and things don't go smoothly. The ending is quite different and quite touching with a very good message....which is all I will say in case you haven't seen this.