"I Love You To Death" (1990)

It would make a perfect headline for one of those supermarket tabloids: WIFE SHOOTS CHEATING HUBBY; NOW HE LOVES HER MORE THAN EVER. But in this case, the story really is true: "I Love You To Death" is based on the strange romance of a Pennsylvania couple whose marriage was revitalized after the wife almost succeeded in murdering her spouse.

The film plays less like docudrama than weird sitcom, however, as director Lawrence Kasdan and a superb cast engage in what seems like a working vacation. The fun is infectious, and the result is a slight but highly entertaining comedy of errors.

Joey Boca (Kevin Kline, elaborating on his "Fish Called Wanda" persona) runs a pizzeria and, although he professes to love his devoted wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman), doesn't hesitate to make special deliveries to female customers. When Rosalie is confronted with his infidelities, she teams up with her mother (Joan Plowright), their friend and co-worker Devo (River Phoenix) and two bemused local drug addicts-turned-hitmen (William Hurt and Keanu Reeves) to stop Joey's sleeping-around once and for all. There's a surprising twist to the attempted homicide that's too improbable to be fiction; it gives the story a jaw-dropping punchline.

All involved have a high time, particularly Plowright, with a fierce Yugoslavian accent, and Hurt and Reeves, playing a duo with no surplus of IQ points. The casting is so strong that even bit players shine: Miriam Margolyes only has about three minutes onscreen as Joey's perturbed mom, and she makes an unforgettable impression slapping some sense into her son.

But it's Ullman who truly impresses. For years, there's been speculation that within the wildly eccentric comic there was a first-class dramatic talent: Here's the proof. Rosalie is the only central character grounded in reality and if Ullman had played her as farcical, the movie would have fallen flat. Instead, in the movie's darkest scene, she shows Rosalie's shame and humiliation, then lets us in on the overwhelming passion that drives her to jail rather than divorce court. It's a stunning performance that should certify her as an actress, not just a comedienne.