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The Merry Gentleman
To misquote Chekhov, if you introduce a suicidal hit man and a cop with a temper in the first act, audiences are going to expect mayhem before the curtain comes down. Those audiences are going to be frustrated by this flawed but intriguing character study. This is a film about mood rather than story.
Mob killer Frank (Keaton) crosses paths with Kate (Macdonald), who has fled her abusive cop husband (Cannavale) and made a new life in Chicago, only to wind up a witness to one of Frank’s jobs. The investigating officer (Bastounes) is smitten with Kate, but so is Frank, who follows her home and then collapses while helping her carry a Christmas tree to her apartment. Kate gets him to a hospital, and these two quiet, lonely people form a tentative friendship. Things get further complicated when Kate’s ex tracks her down. Three men, one woman, multiple guns. Never a good combination.
It often feels as though Keaton wishes all that plot would go away so he could focus his attention on the central friendship, captured in scenes of tranquil silence. As a director, Keaton isn’t especially polished, but there’s something likeable about the effort not to make yet another quirky, smirky film about a hit man in a funk.
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