DIARY OF A HITMAN

(director: Roy London; screenwriter: Kenneth Pressman/based on the play Insider’s Price by Kenneth Pressman; cinematographer: Yuri Sokol; editor: Brian Smedley-Ashton; music: Michel Colombier; cast: Forest Whitaker (Dekker), Seymour Cassell (Koenig), Sherilyn Fenn (Jain), Lewis Smith (Zidzyk), John Bedford-Lloyd (Dr. Jamison), Sharon Stone (Kiki), James Belushi (Shandy), Lois Chiles (Sheila), Wayne Crawford (Wallace), Jimmy Butler (Eddie); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: R; producer: Amin Q. Chaudri; Continental Films; 1991)
“The narrative strains credibility.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Roy London, known as one of the best acting coaches in Hollywood, helms his only feature film. The bleak, talky thriller is based on the 45-minute play Insider’s Price by Kenneth Pressman, who also writes the screenplay. It never gets beyond its stage origins, and the narrative strains credibility. It’s enjoyable because the low-key acting is easy to take.

The veteran hired killer Dekker (Forest Whitaker) wants to stop, but takes one last contract to kill the wife (Sherilyn Fenn) and child of his commodities broker client (Lewis Smith). The client claims his wife is a drug-addict and the infant is not only a crack baby but is not his. When the hit man converses with the vic, breaking the hit man rule book code, he discovers his client lied. He now has doubts if he could do the hit.

The message is that the intended victim and the long-time killer can save their miserable lives if things turn out right.

REVIEWED ON 4/10/2016 GRADE: B-

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