Grosse Pointe Blank

Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American action-comedy thriller film directed by George Armitage and written by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and John Cusack. Based on a story written by Jankiewicz, it follows a professional assassin who leaves Los Angeles to attend a high school reunion in his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he reconnects with the girlfriend he abandoned on prom night. The film stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, and Dan Aykroyd.

The score was composed by Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash, and the soundtrack features punk rock, ska, and new wave songs by artists including The Clash, the Specials, and Echo & the Bunnymen. The soundtrack album peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200 and later prompted a second volume.

Martin Blank, a professional assassin based in Los Angeles, is preparing for a job when his assistant Marcella informs him that he has received an invitation to his ten-year high school reunion. Fellow assassin Grocer approaches Martin about joining his up-and-coming assassin's union, which Martin refuses as he prefers to work alone. On a job in Miami, Martin's attempt to stage his target's cause of death as natural causes goes wrong, and he is forced to shoot the target. His client demands that he make amends by killing a federal whistleblower in Detroit, close to his hometown of Grosse Pointe, where the reunion is taking place.

Martin discovers that his childhood home in Grosse Pointe has been replaced by a convenience store and that his widowed and estranged mother Mary, to whom he had been anonymously sending money, is living in a nursing home and has dementia. He reconnects with his childhood friend, Paul Spericki, and high school sweetheart, Debi Newberry, a local radio disc jockey whom he had abandoned on prom night to enlist in the army.

Martin is stalked by fellow hitman Felix LaPoubelle, who attempts to kill him by blowing up the convenience store. He is also followed by two NSA agents, Lardner and McCullers, who were tipped off to his contract by Grocer. Martin remains distracted by his desire to reconcile with Debi and procrastinates in opening the dossier on his target. Grocer tracks down Martin and tells him that Felix was hired by a wealthy dog owner whose prized retriever was killed on one of Martin's previous assignments. Martin replies that he knows Grocer made the agents follow him and again refuses to join the union.

Debi is conflicted about her feelings for Martin, but he persuades her to attend the reunion with him. There, the two rekindle their relationship and plan to leave together, but Martin is attacked by Felix and Martin kills Felix; Debi stumbles upon the scene and flees the reunion in horror. She later confronts Martin in his hotel room, where he explains that psychological testing by the army indicated a "moral flexibility" in him that prompted the CIA to recruit him as an assassin, after which he decided to become a freelance hitman. He assures Debi that he accepts only contracts on corrupt individuals, but his efforts to justify his work disgust her and she rejects his attempts at reconciliation.

Martin retires from contract killing, provides Marcella with a large severance package, fires his psychiatrist and finally opens the dossier detailing the contract that brought him to Grosse Pointe; he discovers the target is Debi's father Bart, who is scheduled to testify against Martin's client. Grocer decides to kill Bart himself to impress Martin's client and eliminate Martin as a competitor. Martin abandons the contract and saves Bart, taking him home; Grocer, his cohorts and the NSA agents descend upon the house. During the siege, Martin tells Debi that he left her on prom night to protect her from his homicidal urges, but that he has fallen in love with her again and developed a different outlook on life. He kills Grocer's henchmen before he and Grocer both kill the NSA agents. Out of ammunition, the two fight before Martin cracks Grocer's head with a television set.

Martin proposes marriage to Debi, who is too stunned by the killing spree to respond, though Bart gives him his blessing. Martin and Debi later leave Grosse Pointe together, with Debi confessing on her pre-recorded final radio show that she has decided to give love another chance.