Kill Me Later (2001)

Her goldfish dead, her lover exposed as a rat, Shawn Holloway leaves her bank post and goes to the roof intent on suicide. Before she can leap, she's taken hostage by Charlie Anders, a ... See full summary »

Director:

Dana Lustig

Writers:

Dana Lustig (story), Annette Goliti Gutierrez (story),

Stars:

Selma Blair, Max Beesley, O'Neal Compton

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Selma Blair	...	Shawn Holloway
Max Beesley	...	Charlie Anders
O'Neal Compton	...	Agent McGinley
Lochlyn Munro	...	Agent Reed
D.W. Moffett	...	Mathew Richmond
Brendan Fehr	...	Billy
Tom Heaton	...	Jason Thompson
David Adams	...	Ara
Alex Zahara	...	Officer Larry
Keegan Connor Tracy	...	Heather (as Keegan Tracy)
Pam Hyatt	...	Lucy
Stacy Fair	...	Elizabeth Richmond
Marcel Maillard	...	Lyle Holloway
Keith Martin Gordey	...	Elevator Cop (as Keith Gordy)
Dana Lustig	...	Suzan Holloway

Storyline

Her goldfish dead, her lover exposed as a rat, Shawn Holloway leaves her bank post and goes to the roof intent on suicide. Before she can leap, she's taken hostage by Charlie Anders, a fleeing bank robber. He and his partners have stolen a million in cash and plan to escape to Venezuela. Shawn agrees to cooperate if Charlie promises to kill her once he's in the clear. Parts of the plan go awry, so Charlie has time to try to pierce her bleak manner and self pity, and she has time for reflection. As night falls, their interlude ends: they're each alone, Charlie facing prison as the police close in, and Shawn staring down at a river from atop a high bridge.

---

Plot Keywords:

hostage | bridge | police | bank robber | interrogation | 

---

Taglines:

Not every hostage wants to be saved!

---

Genres:

Romance | Thriller | Crime | Drama

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Take My Life

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Curb Entertainment, Amazon Film Productions, Bergman Lustig Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

As Shawn and Charlie are escaping, Shawn turns the wheel to the left, as the car is turning right.

---

Quotes

Shawn Holloway: What's going on is there really some nut on the roof holding a hostage?
Elevator Cop: Yes ma'am, but don't you worry, we'll get him.
Shawn Holloway: What are you gonna do once you get him are you gonna shoot him?
Elevator Cop: We'll hopefully he will have the good sense to give himself up before it comes to that.
Shawn Holloway: Well if he had any GOOD sense he wouldn't be robbing a bank in the first place... Don't you think?

---

Connections

References Rugrats (1991)

User Reviews

Fairly average

Selma Blair is one actor I normally make an effort to avoid, but she is surprisingly good in this B-level piece. Indeed, I think she was done a great injustice by the slick photo that comes with the Australian DVD of The Sweetest Thing. Her performance in Cruel Intentions was not exactly a highlight on her resumé, either. So when I see her in a vaguely appealing form here, the surprise factor is enough to make me award it a bonus point. Quite possibly, this is all that the film has going for it, as I am struggling to think of another selling point.

The plot, such as it is, concerns a loan officer who works in a big city bank. She's suicidal after discovering her lover is less than perfect and her goldfish is dead. So she goes up to the roof. Coincidentally, the bank is robbed, and she gets taken hostage by one of the perps when things don't quite go to plan. Aiding him in his escape, we follow her as she learns more about this rather charming robber with a passable British accent.

The fundamental problem here is that not enough happens in the midst of all this character development to distinguish the story. Perhaps the problem lies with the DVD I viewed the film on. The dialogue is very indistinct in the 2.0-channel mix that is offered on the Australian DVD. Sometimes the difference between a boring, uninvolving scene and one that has the audience grinding its collective teeth in anticipation is merely a sound mix. So if you're thinking of buying DVDs from the Australian market, be advised that at least indie distributors in America take some pride in their workmanship.

Tom Heaton gets a great cameo as the wounded man in the robbery, delivering one of the few stand-out laughs the film has to offer. The ending is syrupy enough to make anyone in the audience, even those with hyper-productive islet cells, sick to their stomach. Apparently, this feature was based upon a short film. The eighty-six minutes that this feature-length offering take up feel like at least sixteen too much, but I may be biased because of my desire for something noteworthy to happen during a story. The number at the end of the film is equally sugary and over-glazed.

Still, I have seen plenty of worse offerings, so I gave Kill Me Later a five out of ten. Speaking of bad audio, the theatrical trailer on the Australian version of the DVD is encoded several decibels louder than the feature presentation. And they wonder why we parallel import?