Film File - Killers

Trying to recover from a sudden break-up, Jen Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), like many a gal before her, believes she'll never fall in love again. But when she reluctantly joins her parents, Tom Selleck and Catherine O'Hara - perfect as the over-protective older folk on a trip to the French Riviera - she happens to meet the man of her dreams, the dashing, handsome Spencer Aimes (Ashton Kutcher). When Jen and Spencer's whirlwind vacation romance keeps going strong after their return from the French Rivera, they decide to get married, looking forward to what any average American couple would: a happy, relatively predictable life in the suburbs balancing careers, in-laws and plans to start a family. But when highly trained, undercover assassins start spraying their home with bullets, and Spencer demonstrates he's no slouch himself when it comes to taking out an opponent, Jen realises that her husband of three years hasn't been completely honest about his past. Three years after their blissful first meeting in the south of France, she and Spencer are living the ideal suburban life - that is, until the morning after Spencer's 30th birthday when bullets start flying. Literally. It turns out that the hubby of her dreams never bothered to tell Jen he was once an international CIA super-spy, and now her perfect world has been turned upside down. Faced with the fact that her husband is a hitman with a $20 million bounty on his head, Jen is determined to discover what other secrets Spencer might be keeping - all the while trying to dodge bullets, keep up neighbourly appearances, manage the in-laws and work out some major trust issues. As you do. But trying to mix amateur couples therapy while dodging assassins' bullets at the same time proves a tough task for the enthusiastic wife determined to save her marriage at all costs. Mixing action, comedy and romance, director Robert Luketic conceived the story as part James Bond and part To Catch A Thief. Kutcher, who has successfully managed to cast off his Mr Demi Moore tag in recent times with successful comedies like 'What Happens In Vegas' and 'A Lot Like Love', makes full use of his good looks and toned body for this step-up into the bigger movie leagues. Heigl, who has already paid her comedic dues in '27 Dresses' and 'Knocked Up', should have made the perfect foil for Kutcher, but the pairing never really ignite the chemistry that was expected. The couple do, however, manage to mine some good gags from the suburban setting - that 'fish out of water' brand of humour that works so well in the right hands. The hitmen chasing Spencer - Rob Riggle, Alex Borstein and Katheryn Winnick - are well-played, especially a hysterical Riggle. Mostly, though, the plot is paper-thin and predictable down to the last pratfall. Heigl and Kutcher are an attractive couple, no doubt about that, and must have looked an easy sell pairing on paper. But, like the film itself, the chemistry never really ignites, and the odd soft chuckle is managed in an otherwise dull sea of predictability.