The Whole Nine Yards

Plot synopsis:
Nicholas "Oz" Oseransky (Matthew Perry) is a Quebec dentist from Chicago, who happens to be genuinely likable to almost everyone who knows him. However, he is trapped in a miserable marriage to the daughter of his late ex business partner. His wife Sophie (Rosanna Arquette) and mother-in-law (Carmen Ferland) hate him, and his deceased father-in-law has saddled him with a lot of debt. He can't divorce his wife because her father embezzled from the dental practice, and he has nothing but debt if they separate. As the movie opens, Sophie tells Oz she needs $5000, but won't say what for.
At the office, we are introduced to his assistant, Jill (Amanda Peet). Jill and Oz have lunch and she tells him that his wife isn't a good person. They joke about the fact that, due to his insurance, he's worth more dead than alive, and discuss having her taken out of the picture, and Jill playfully tells him to name a price. When Oz gets home, a new neighbor is moving in next door. Oz thinks that "Jimmy Jones" looks familiar, and after recognizing a tattoo on Jimmy's forearm, realizes that he's Jimmy "the Tulip" Tudeski (Bruce Willis). Tudeski is an infamous contract killer from Chicago who was given amnesty after ratting out Lazlo Gogolak and other members of the Gogolak gang.
Oz runs home in a panic and tells Sophie they're moving. But Sophie insists that Oz return to Chicago to collect a finder's fee by giving up Jimmy's whereabouts to Lazlo's son, Janni (Kevin Pollak). Oz is picked up by Jimmy in a sudden trip to the city, where he reveals his predicament to Jimmy: his wife's father got involved with an underage boy who blackmailed the father, who embezzled money to pay off his blackmailer, and then committed suicide, saddling Oz with the debt. Jimmy sympathizes with Oz, and tells him he honestly likes Oz. Even though Oz has warmed to Jimmy, he still goes through with the trip to Chicago to pacify his wife. Upon arriving in Chicago, Oz has lunch with an old friend and confesses that he has no intention of meeting with Janni or giving up Jimmy; unfortunately, when Oz returns to his hotel room, he is greeted by Frankie Figs (Michael Clarke Duncan) who turns out to be one of Janni's enforcers. Frankie roughs Oz up to get the truth out of him and then takes him to Janni.
At Janni's estate, Oz meets Cynthia (Natasha Henstridge), Jimmy's estranged wife. Janni instructs Frankie to accompany Oz back to Canada and keep an eye on Jimmy until Janni and his men arrive to take him out. Back at the hotel, Oz calls Jimmy in a panic, warning him to run, but Jimmy casually reassures him everything is okay. He is then visited by Cynthia, who asks Oz if he really knows where to find Jimmy, explaining that Janni and Jimmy both want her (as well as each other) dead in order to collect on $10 million, which is being held in trust in their names (the "whole nine yards" of the title). Oz and Cynthia share a bottle of scotch and end up sleeping together. Afterwards, Oz vows to find a way to protect Cynthia from Jimmy.
Back in Canada, Frankie and a very nervous Oz enter another hotel room and see Jimmy waiting inside. It turns out that Frankie and Jimmy are old friends and together, are planning to take out Janni and Cynthia; they both praise Oz's genuine personality, his unwillingness to give up Jimmy, and his faithfulness, even to a wife that hates him. Oz returns to work and tells Jill about the events in Chicago. Jill is extremely excited when she finds out Jimmy the Tulip is Oz's neighbor and makes Oz take her to meet him. Jill tells Jimmy that he's her hero and the reason she wants to be a contract killer. She also tells him that Sophie tried to use the $5000 to have Jill kill Oz, but Jill ended up liking Oz after getting to know him (like nearly everyone else does) and refused to follow through on the contract. Jimmy reveals that Sophie visited him while Oz was in Chicago and tried to seduce him into killing Oz, and offers to kill Sophie as a favor to Oz.
As Jimmy and Jill discuss the upcoming ambush, Oz gets angry and says that he won't stand by and let them kill Cynthia. Oz is back at home and tries to call and warn Cynthia about Jimmy's plan, but she is already on the way with Janni. When they arrive at Oz's house, Oz gets a chance to warn Cynthia, while she warns him that Janni will kill him after killing Jimmy. The two watch from Oz's garage as Janni's gang walks into the trap.
Down the street, Sophie and her new hitter (Harland Williams) are in his car. She is discussing the payment and promises that her mother will pay the remainder of his fee after the job is done; she notes scornfully that she hates and doesn't understand why everyone else who meets Oz seems to like him. The hitter is distracted when he recognized Janni Gogolak heading toward Jimmy's house. When Sophie tells him whose house it is, he realizes what's about to happen, pulls out a gun and exits the car, taking the car keys with him.
When Janni enters the house, he is distracted by a naked Jill, and she, Jimmy and Frankie are easily able to kill Janni and his men. Oz and Cynthia make a break for it. Sophie's hitter is in the yard when he hears Oz's car peel out behind him. This draws Jimmy's attention to the window. He has Jill get the mystery hitter's attention and then shoots him. Sophie sees this and runs, screaming, down the street. When they get the body inside, they realize he is an undercover cop.
As they start to get a plan together to dispose of the bodies, Oz calls. While they are on the phone, Jill reveals that Oz slept with Cynthia in Chicago—which she thinks is great—but it infuriates Jimmy, who feels that friends shouldn't sleep with each other's wives. Oz makes a deal with them that will benefit everyone. Back at his office, he alters the cop's teeth to exactly match Jimmy's. They then put the cop's body and Janni's into Oz's car and set it on fire, rendering the bodies unidentifiable, except by dental records. The next day, two investigators think that Janni and Jimmy are both dead. This allows Cynthia to collect the $10 million, which as a part of the deal, she has agreed to transfer to Jimmy in exchange for her and Oz's lives. The investigators also find the undercover cop's car when they go to check out Jimmy's house. Inside the car is a tape recorder with Sophie and the cop's conversation to kill Oz, the contents of which are more than enough to put Sophie and her mother in prison, even though Sophie tearfully claims that Jill is the killer that she hired to kill the undercover cop, but the cop does not believe her story. Oz, who is observing behind one-way glass, asks if the detectives know a good divorce lawyer, and is reassured.
Some time later, after the death certificates have been processed, the key players meet up in the city. While Cynthia and Jill go to the bank to transfer the money, Oz heads to an art museum with Jimmy, where they will be around people and Oz thinks he'll be safe. Jimmy has other plans though and takes Oz (along with Frankie Figs) out on a private yacht. Back at the bank, Jill asks Cynthia to split the money with her and run, leaving Jimmy to kill Oz if he is double-crossed. Cynthia decides that she loves Oz and can't leave him to be killed by Jimmy. Jill tells Cynthia that it was a test, and that Jimmy wants her and Oz to have $1 million as a wedding gift, and the two women make the transfers.
On the boat, Jimmy gets the call that the money has been received. He pulls out a gun and points it at Oz. Frankie grins knowingly before Jimmy turns and shoots him instead; Jimmy explains that he had to kill Frankie or Frankie would kill Oz and then potentially come after Jimmy himself or send others after him in the belief that Jimmy had gone soft. Oz is floored, but happy to be alive. He tells Jimmy that it's obvious he's in love with "her." Jimmy acts confused, thinking Oz is referring to Cynthia. In the next shot, Jill runs on the boat and jumps into Jimmy's arms. Oz leaves to meet Cynthia. As soon as he sees her, he asks her to marry him. She looks disappointed and asks if Jimmy told him (about the money), but when Oz asks what she's talking about, she realizes he truly doesn't know and happily agrees to marry him, assuring him they'll be okay financially. In the closing scene, the two newlywed couples are on a hotel balcony overlooking Niagara falls, dancing to a bluesy version of Ira Gershwin's "They All Laughed" as the credits roll.

Tags: cult, comedy, murder, violence

Review:
At first the actors seem to be each in a parallel movie, with Matthew Perry doing physical slapstick comedy, Bruce Willis deadly serious, Rosanna Arquette just nasty, Amanda Peet being her "Jack and Jill" character (one of my TV guilty pleasures) and Natasha being like a super-model.Then something clicks in and it just gets funny and I couldn't help laughing and laughing.I hope Michael Clarke Duncan gets to keep those fancy suits, because it must be hard to get ones to fit him; with "Green Mile," this performance impressively shows his range.(originally written 3/19/2000).
But this comedy starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry is very well done and had me laughing about it even when it was over.
I liked about five out of all Bruce Willis' movies and Perry I've seen on his tv show and enjoyed him but never really thought about him much.
Which is exactly what happens in `The Whole Nine Yards,' directed by Jonathan Lynn and starring Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry.
It may not be the most original movie ever made, but `The Whole Nine Yards' is funny, has a great cast of actors who have taken characters you've basically seen before and made them their own, and does exactly what a film like this is supposed to do:  Entertain.
I rented The Whole Nine Yards a few days ago, and just watched it this morning, I'm such a huge Bruce Willis fan, I don't see him that often in comedies, so I was curious how this would work.
The story was just very clever and worked so well with the cast.Nick is just your average guy, he is a dentist and a very likable guy, but he gets walked on quite a bit, especially by his wife who he feels like he owes her family, so he won't divorce her.
I really had a good time watching this movie, Bruce Willis was just so great.
"The Whole Nine Yards" is a great movie to simply sit back and enjoy.Nicholas "Oz" Ozeransky (Matthew Perry) is a mild-mannered dentist whose stuck with a wife who hates him (Rosanna Arquette in a hilariously over-the-top performance) and a huge debt that his partner (his father-in-law) left him when he kicked the bucket.
Kevin Pollack and Rosanna Arquette are so over-the-top that their performances must be seen to be believed.But as good as this cast is, and it's great, the film is stolen from all of them by newcomer Amanda Peet.
Director Jonathan Lynn has a lot of fun with the conventions of each genre, including mixing and matching the character traits of the femme-fatale and the "good girl" (you'll see what I mean when you watch the movie).
But Bruce Willis is always good, Amanda Peet stole the screen in almost every scene she was in, and the plot line was just quirky enough to be entertaining.
I have always liked Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, and I also quite like Michael Duncan and Amanda Peet.
Oz, along with another hit man named Frankie Figs (Michael Duncan) finds himself unwittingly helping, but he starts to fall in love with Cynthia and won't let her die.My plot description sounds quite bad, but the movie is very good and funny.
The actors are better, the characters are cooler, the jokes are funnier (I was laughing out loud on many occasions) and the mixture of crime and comedy is pulled off a lot better in this movie, which is strange because there is more crime in this one than in ANALYZE THIS.
and it's just great when you can find a movie nowadays where you can't predict the ending cause everything is possible to happen.It's very funny It's enjoyable It's a pleasure to watch, alone or even better with friends You're gonna be in for a real treat...Although, if you like this one, don't get your hopes up too high...
THE WHOLE NINE YARDS (2000) ** Matthew Perry, Bruce Willis, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan, Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Pollak,  Harlan Williams.Matthew Perry is one of my favorite comedic actors in that he's kind of a throwback to the light comedy fare of Jack Lemmon and Tom Hanks: handsome, charming and an utter neurotic mess with a sharp self-deprecating wit with his nonchalant sarcastic jibing that is all play and totally harmless, with a twist of slapstick.
But when Oz's wife approaches him he is hard-pressed to do what comes natural since Oz turns out to be the good neighbor he never had and an unlikely ally  as things progress in the plotline that eventually involves Jimmy's estranged, va-va-va voom wife Cynthia (Henstridge, best known as the sexy alien in the `Species' sci-fi flicks) who wants a divorce but knows that it's more likely a hit would be necessary.Meanwhile Oz is struck by love at first sight when he meets Mrs. Jimmy and winds up bedding her (in spite of the fact he knows who Jimmy is after some hilarious reaction shots as the story moves on with each new trickle of information on his new `friend'), which only complicates things when Jimmy announces he is going to `whack' her and Janni, the mad Russian.Perry is a marvelous reactionary actor and plays very well off a unique ensemble including the babelicious Peet as Jill, his receptionist- turned - assassin - wannabe , who has a knack for displaying her natural assets to dissuade any potential violent threat and Duncan (recently nominated for a Best Supporting Actor as the gentle giant in `The Green Mile') has a sweet low-key turn as the hulking pal of Willis who provides some funny sight gags (including his first meeting with Perry  who literally bounces off this wall of a man).Yet no matter how game the cast is - including off the wall comic Harland Williams as another seedy character who doesn't appear to be who he claims to be - and the fast pace of the storyline, there aren't that many memorable lines of dialogue or full grasp that a lethal killer like Jimmy actually has a heart of gold for the likes of a schnook like Oz.It would be easy to blame the less than compelling story line on screenwriter Mitchell Kapner (who gives an original spin on a plot twist and complex scenario involving  dental records and  a corpse) or director Jonathan Lynn (`My Cousin Vinny'), but  both make the best overall.
(You haven't seen him like this since "Blind Date" or "Death becomes her")Matthew Perry is hilarious in this move, and the rest of the cast has their moments, and they are using them good."The Whole Nine Yards" is funny and entertaining like a comedy of this sort should be.I mean that this is a good move, and I will recommend it to others.
This film proves 1) Matthew Perry Cannot act 2) Bruce Willis cannot save every film he's in 3) There is something worse than Dick Van Dyke's attempt at a   cockney accent--just try to sit through 2 minutes of Rosanna Arquette's attept at a French Canadian accent 4) Patricia & Alexis are the only talented Arquettes 5) With the exeption of Lisa Kudrow, NOT ONE PERSON from the   "Friends" cast should be allowed in from of a movie camera.
Unlike the previous mentioned, this one is a pure comedy that is first successful by its cast: mixing some experts in comedy (Perry, Peet) with others who play against nature: Rosanna is cute as a dangerous desperate housewife and Willis plays a hit-man "à la" Brando in the "Godfather": no action, just a presence with his stare and words.
The plot of this escapist romantic crime comedy sounds like a TV situation comedy, but the film far exceeds expectations.Nicholas 'Oz' Oseransky (Mathew Perry) is a dentist in Canada trapped in a horrible marriage.
The dentist's unloving wife, Sophie (deliciously played by Rosanna Arquette), is secretly trying to have her husband killed for his life insurance.Jill St. Claire (beautiful and talented Amanda Peete in a great major supporting role) is the dentists vivacious assistant, who turns out to be a Jimmy "The Tulip" groupie.
She also pleasantly displays her other talents in a nude scene.A comic "tangled web" is woven as Sophie tries to cash in on the vendetta and Oz tries very credibly to prevent anyone from being killed.Both lead actors, Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, have played similar parts in the past.
But Perry appropriately plays the Oz character straight and believable, somewhat like the straight man in a comic duo.The various twists in the plot are fun and the ending is very satisfying.
That's why The Whole Nine Yards was a great surprise, since Perry fits well into his role, and the movie isn't yet another Friends-style copy either.
The stage is set justifiably for the actors that make the best work in the movie, Bruce Willis, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet and Michael Clarke Duncan besides Perry.
It is a comedy, yes, but very subtle, and keeping with the realistic even when the characters, or Perry's Oseransky, mostly, find themselves in absurd situations, and the plot keeps turning until the end, when it reaches a classic 50's-like tone.
Bruse Willis as the hit man "Jimmy Tulips" and Matthew Perry as the hapless dentist "Oz" are funny in this movie.
It's a funny movie starring Matthew Perry of Friends fame as a nervous nelly of a dentist, Oz Oseransky, living in Montreal suburb to a wife who really has no use for him (Rosanna Arquette), so little use that she tries to have him killed.
There are certain plot moments that sustains the movie, something to do with Jimmy's former wife Cynthia (the always fantastic looking Natasha Henstridge) who falls in love with Oz, and a humorously strange relationship that develops between Jimmy and Oz's dental hygienist Jill (Amanda Peet) who has an unusual interest in the world of mafia hit men.
Michael Clark Duncan plays Jimmy's bodyguard, and the physical contrast between him and Matthew Perry makes for some of the funniest scenes in this light farce.
After a while it boils down to trying to find a way to reason with Bruce to not kill his ex-wife for money.It's not brilliant cinema making at work, but it's funny because the cast knows it's all ridiculous and Bruce himself is funny as this laid back every-guy who just happens to be a retired hit man.
Matthew Perry is just like Chandler Bing from Friends in this movie, and that keeps things funny, and Bruce Willis and him work well together.
It's as if the writer was just writing down whatever came to mind and thought "When Matthew Perry says it, it'll be funny." Friends is not the best sitcom on TV, but it has much better writing than this movie.None of the acting was impressive at all.
To rent this movie would be a waste of money, to watch this movie would be a waste of your life.A pathetic attempt at humour - Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis - WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!?.
There ARE a few laughs here and there, and Matt Perry TRIES to squeeze some comedic juice out of this, but it's hard going.The characters are all either too cool, along the lines of the characters in another terrible film "Get Shorty", or they are over the top phony, as in the police inspectors in this movie.
Here's a guy who can do practically anything and is reduced to babbling and, I think, confusing Ws with Vs or something--nevermind, not important and I couldn't really get it anyway.If you like black comedy mob pictures that aren't funny, don't have engaging characters, action limited to shooting a few characters at close range, the lead character trying to bring in a little slapstick, and a bizarre "happy ending", here's the film for you.
I don't know what the competition was that year, but it must have been something out of this world for this movie to be so overlooked.This is a comedy to set the acting standard for, not only, Best ACTING IN A COMEDY category, but for drama category as well.Fabulous acting AND directing, since it is hard to get such fabulous performances without a terrific director.Matthew Perry's timing and style is ever so right for his character, I cant imagine it being played by any other actor.
Matthew Perry (he of Friends fame) is Oz, a dentist with a horrible wife (Rosanna Arquette, with a 'comedy' French accent).
He is the comedy quarterback in this film.But while Perry and (to a lesser extent) Willis front the team decently enough, the featured cast comes off more like bench-warmers than players -- supportive but ineffectual.
What is difficult to determine is whether it's Matthew Perry, from FRIENDS (1994-2004) or Mitchell Kapner, the writer of the movie that makes the comedy mesh so well, from the physical gags that seem to be pretty lame but are artfully presented on screen so that they are fresh and really funny.
Natasha Henstridge from SPECIES (1995) has the elegance and style to carry off her serious character while the rest of the supporting cast along with Bruce Willis add that sure and charismatic charm of a solid romantic comedy.
However, he soon realizes that his new neighbor is a notorious hit-man named "Jimmy Tudeski" (Bruce Willis) who has just been released from prison and has a contract out on his head for turning state's evidence against a powerful mafia don by the name of "Janni Gogolak" (Kevin Pollak).
Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, Amanda Peet.
Deep in debt, a suburban dentist is persuaded to inform on a contract killer (with a bounty on his head) when he moves next door, only to experience a crisis of conscious after befriending the man in this zesty comedy starring Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis.
The movie is also unafraid to treat murder, deception and infidelity in a very lighthearted way, which in turns makes it more laugh-out-loud funny than the average black comedy out there..
Egged on my his loathsome wife Oz sets off to Chicago to let the mob know where Tudeski is and, with a bit of luck, claim part of the reward...A movie which makes full use of Matthew Perry's prodigious comedic talents, especially for physical comedy.
While Bruce Willis is solid in his role, Perry makes the movie.
His wife convinces him to go to Chicago and inform the mob boss who wants Jimmy dead.Bruce Willis as a hit-man?
Matthew Perry is working hard and has good chemistry with Bruce Willis.
Not only does this have pretty funny one-liners, there is an ample amount of physical comedy such as when Matt Perry keeps on running into doors or Michael Clarke Duncan himself.Jonathan Lynn's film is about a dentist named Oz who lives unhappily with his wife.
Willis has enough wit and charm to lead a comedy and like he proved in his Die Hard films, he does know how to be funny when time is called for.
The movie's general theme is comedy after all, Matthew Perry's strong point, but definitely not Willis's.
Some of the deliveries in the script are pretty funny and the whole situation built up around 'the tulip' (one of the main characters - portrayed by Willis) is very nicely depicted throughout the movie.
Whole Nine Yards, The (2000) Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clarke Duncan, Natasha Henstridge, Amanda Peet, Kevin Pollak, Harland Williams, D: Jonathan Lynn.
Matthew Perry plays a dentist who becomes unintentionally a good friend of a criminal, played by Bruce Willis.
At the time I had watched this film, I wasn't big into Willis or Perry, in fact I purchased the DVD because it was on sale and it was recommended as a `good laugh.' I had no idea that it would be as entertaining as it was.
Jonathan Lynn had put together a wonderful cast, Matthew Perry, Bruce Willis, Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, Rosanna Arquette, Michael Clark-Duncan, and Kevin Pollak.
As director Lynn said on the commentary on the DVD, "You could make it a drama and not take out any words." But, it's a comedy, and Perry adds some physical humor to the otherwise "wordy" humor.Willis plays great in these type of roles-the comedic bad guys, the part where he can be funny but is also in a serious role.
I watched this film for two reasons; Matthew Perry from "Friends" fame, and Bruce Willis!
'The Whole Nine Yards' is quite good as Perry hams it up as Oz the Dentist, and Willis plays the cool sauve tough guy in Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski.
Definitely worth 100 minutes of your time.Bruce Willis is decent, Michael Clarke Duncan is good, Matt Perry is good (especially as he isn't simply recreating his Friends persona), Amanda Peet performs well (with an interesting way of, well, distracting, shall we say, the villains), whilst Rosanna Arquette and Natasha Henstridge are slightly wasted in their roles.One point though.
Really funny, Matthew Perry is gorgeous in this movie !.
It doesn't matter if you like action, comedy, love stories, or if you just enjoy seeing Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis act, this movie IS for you!!!
Matthew Perry is great as the successful yet hard-luck dentist and Bruce Willis is awesome as The Tulip.
I won't repeat the plot, if you don't know it, watch the trailer.Bruce Willis, and Matthew Perry play off each other well.
Well I've spend a great hour and half in the Theater tonight.I went to see The Whole Nine Yards with the basic idea of watching a fun comedy with two actors I love Matthew Perry and Bruce Willis.
However you should go this movie and spend a really good funny time With Willis and Perry.
Bruce Willis is pretty good in his role as "hit man with a heart"(see: his character in THE JACKAL).