The Merry Gentleman

by KYW's Bill Wine

Welcome back, and welcome aboard, Michael Keaton!

It's nice to see the sharp, witty star of Batman, Beetlejuice, Clean and Sober, Mr. Mom, and Multiplicity, who's been under the radar in recent years, back on the big screen.

And in The Merry Gentleman, Keaton also makes his directorial debut, replacing Ron Lazzeretti, who wrote the screenplay and was scheduled to direct it but who fell ill.

The Merry Gentleman -- an ironic title in that the character referred to is neither merry nor a gentleman -- is a morally ambiguous tale about the friendship between a melancholic, suicidal hitman and a wife on the run from an abusive husband.

It has the contours of a thriller but the texture of high drama.

Kelly Macdonald (far right) plays battered wife Kate Frazier, who leaves her abusive policeman husband Michael, played by Bobby Cannavale, and begins a new life and a new office job in wintry Chicago, where she lives anonymously, keeps to herself, and ignores whatever flirtatious proposals come her way.

One night she emerges from her apartment and notices a man about to jump to his death from the ledge of a rooftop across the street. Her startled scream causes him to fall over backward, saving his life.

The silhouetted figure on the roof is Frank Logan, a mob assassin played by Keaton (at left in photo), who has just killed a man, sniper-style, by shooting him through an office window from across the street.

Was his near suicide a result of his remorse? Or was he upset at being seen?

Logan makes Kate's acquaintance, volunteering to help her drag a Christmas tree across her threshold, knowing that she's the woman who saw him and knowing that she isn't aware of the connection between them.

Does he mean her harm because she can identify him? We don't know yet as we watch their friendship (and possibly romance) blossom.

The cop who comes around to investigate the murder committed by Logan is an overweight recovering alcoholic named Dave Murcheson, played by Tom Bastounes (who is also one of the film's producers). Murcheson is immediately smitten, and uses his credentials to insinuate his way into her social life.

And suppose her husband uses his resources as a member of a police force to find her?

Thus does this unusual romantic rectangle involving four sad, lonely, damaged people eventuate.

The performances are splendid. In a superbly alert and winning turn as the vulnerable, sympathetic, and almost saintly Kate, Scottish actress Macdonald is immensely appealing -- to the three men courting her and to us -- and her director surely knows that this is her movie.

Meanwhile, actor Keaton does wonders with a role as a depressive that gives him very little to say.

And director Keaton has a very impressive debut with what is almost a Christmas fable, demonstrating a real gift for wordless storytelling as he allows a rich array of undercurrents to run through his small-scale film and allowing the kind of silences throughout that reveal intriguing bits of character delineation.

He also manages to breathe new life and fresh observation into the tired hit-man-protagonist convention of recent years.

The Merry Gentleman is an emotionally complicated, unusually nuanced, and character-driven film, fascinatingly quiet, absorbing, and richly suspenseful.

And if the ending, which will not be described here, is in any way a closure-denying ambiguous letdown, our disappointment also bespeaks the quality of what has come before.

So we'll understate 3 stars out of 4 for an edgy and haunting character study. Michael Keaton's character may not live up to the title, but The Merry Gentleman makes us want to see more of Keaton on both sides of the camera.

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KYW Movie Podcasts: Listen for Bill Wine's Best Bets

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 11/06/09
This week KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine look at the comedy-war film, "The Men Who Stare at Goats," the animated re-make, "A Christmas Carol," and the horror-mystery-thriller "The Fourth Kind." (18:45)

Movie Reviews - Week of 11/2/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "The Men Who Stare at Goats", "A Christmas Carol" and "The Fourth Kind". (3:01)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/30/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the Chris Rock documentary, "Good Hair," Michael Jackson's "This is It," and the action-crime-drama "The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day." (17:43)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/26/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Good Hair", "This Is It" and "Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day". (3:00)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/23/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the animated adventure "Astro Boy," the bio-drama"Amelia," and the action-adventure-comedy "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant." (17:20)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/19/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Astro Boy", "Amelia" and "Cirque du Freak - The Vampires Assistant". (3:00)

Movie Reviews - Week of 10/12/09
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies 'New York, I Love You', 'Law Abiding Citizen' and 'Where the Wild Things Are'. (3:00)

Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 10/09/09
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story," the comedy "Couple's Retreat," and the drama, "The Boys Are Back." (19:23)