At the age of twelve, I watched reports on the making of I
Love You to Death after dinner on Entertainment Tonight as the hosts
discussed the controversies surrounding its production. Watching the movie now,
it is hard to believe that it could have been the source of any controversies,
but that disconnection proves helpful in noting some of the changes in media,
entertainment, and perception that have occurred since 1990. Twenty-five years
later, I Love You to Death remains an unmistakable product of its time.
A highly successful director of the 1980’s, Lawrence Kasdan, guides a diverse
and talented cast, including two Oscar winners and two Oscar nominees, through
an energetic, dark comedy based on an actual criminal case, wherein
a wife tried to kill her husband several times. From its director to its
remarkable ensemble cast and the way it handles its subject matter, this movie
could not have happened at any other point in recent history.
I Love You to Death follows a string of successes
throughout the 1980’s that began with Kasdan penning the screenplays for The
Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Following these
collaborations, Kasdan went on to write and direct some of the biggest critical
hits of the decade including Body Heat, The Big Chill, and The
Accidental Tourist. A year after this movie in 1991, Kasdan’s Grand
Canyon attempted to address and remedy the hangover brought about by the
over-indulgences of the 1980’s, but I Love You to Death’s perverse and
frenetic atmosphere feels like the last round of drinks shared at end of the
party the night before.
As the party guests, this group of actors remains one of my
favorite ensemble casts in any movie. Kevin Kline, at the height of his powers,
operates in a broadly comic range that he has rarely reached with such zeal or
success before or since. Released in the final year of Tracy Ullman’s acclaimed
U.S. comedy/variety series, this movie allows Ullman to deliver one of her most
natural and nuanced performances. As the emotional heart of the film, River
Phoenix’s charisma and generosity as a performer combine to bring out the best
from his fellow actors and allow him shine without being the center of
attention. As Yugoslavian mechanic grandmother Mama Nadja, Joan Plowright
builds a warm and curiously engaging character out of a role that could have
been just a plot device or a punchline.
Recently, I realized that William Hurt’s character is a
spiritual cousin to Jeff Bridges’ The Dude in The Big Lebowski. As
leading men in the 1980’s, both Hurt and Bridges played serious yuppie types,
so watching them play bedraggled, middle-aged hippies at the fringes of society
creates a jolt of unpredictability that, in this case, creates some of the
movie’s most satisfying comedy. For Keanu Reeves’ detractors, the role of a
quiet, drug-addled weirdo is right up there with Bill & Ted’s Excellent
Adventure for the list of roles he was born to play. For his defenders,
Reeves gives a layered comic performance on par with his later work in films
like 2009’s Thumbsucker.
Kasdan and writer John Kostmayer take significant liberties
with the actual criminal case to create a propulsive comedic tone that flirts
with the darker elements involved, but ultimately keeps the overall mood light
and amusing. Within just a few years, cases very similar to the one on which
this movie is based became the source of intense media attention. The level of
societal and media obsession with cases like John and Lorena Bobbitt, Amy Fisher
and Joey Buttafuoco, and, eventually, the O.J. Simpson murder trial created a
new kind of entertainment that paved the way for both the ubiquity of the 24
hour news cycle and the dominance of “reality” TV. None of those cases became
the source of a movie like I Love You to Death because in a way, they
all unraveled in real time as a new kind of mixed-media live theater. Kasdan
and Kostmayer thread a timely satire of the violence, tabloid culture, and
desire for fame present in modern American life throughout their movie as a
possible warning for what was to come. Despite what came after, I Love You
to Death survives as a unique and memorable comedy that also offers a
snapshot of early stages of the interplay between the news media and mainstream
entertainment.
- John Parsell
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