I love Grosse Point Blank. The idea of John Cusack as an assassin going to his high school reunion is just so ridiculous that it works beautifully. The contrast between his brutal actions and his personality (as you illustrated with the excerpts) really gets me.

Great soundtrack, too.

"Workers of the world unite!"

Grosse Pointe Blank makes use of a great formula:

romance + wit + guns = a guy’s idea of a date movie

The movie works because it relies on smart writing rather than cheap laughs. The scene where Martin pours out the liquor bottle at his father's tombstone summed up their relationship in a single image.

As for other smart comedies: Wonder Boys, Thank You for Smoking, and Beautiful Girls (which oddly enough centres around a 10 year high school reunion)

@Darren: It is ridiculous, but as you say, it "works beautifully." The ridiculousness of it is one of the reasons the high concept is so striking. It also goes a long way toward establishing the tone -- see Nate's Spielberg post from yesterday -- of the piece. If you tried to play the story straight, it wouldn't work. The ridiculous nature of the conceit requires the story to follow suit.

@Trevor: Love the formula! I'll bet it inspires at least one person out there to come up with a great story concept and write a script. Hopefully you!

When I found out my girlfriend hadn't seen this, it had to be the next thing we watched.

Brilliant.

I also enjoy seeing Jeremy Piven, pre-Ari Gold