Nobody is going to put John Cusack into a romantic role opposite his sister Joan Cusack -- God, I hope not -- but they still have great film chemistry. Their phone interactions in “Grosse Pointe Blank” are classic, especially when Marcella (Joan) cradles the phone while she works to burn down their office. The movie is all about John’s hired assassin Martin Blank and Minnie Driver’s Debi Newberry – his too-cool former girlfried - but Joan is a scene stealer when she manifests Jekyll and Hyde phone personalities when switching lines between a weapons dealer and a recipe sharer. Here are the great four:
- Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) – Joan plays office manager Marcella for paid assassin Martin Blank (John), convincing the boss to go to his 10-year high school reunion while he’s in Detroit to do a hit. ✰✰✰✰✰
- Sixteen Candles (1984) – The Cusacks just have bit parts as geeks in this film and they don't meet onscreen, so you're watching this movie for something else. Still, keep your eyes open for the young siblings and their background appearances in a variety of head gear. ✰✰✰✰
- Say Anything (1989)– I don’t want sell anything, buy anything or process anything, but I do want to watch over and over, as John (as Lloyd Dobler) says that phrase in various permutations, trying to win Ione Skye’s Diane Court over and over. John's sister plays (whaddaya know) Lloyd’s sister. ✰✰✰✰✰
- High Fidelity (2000)– One of the most successful cases ever of moving a movie setting from one country to another _- in this case moving from the England of Nick Hornby’s amazing book, to the Chicago of John Cusack’s world. John picked the music, including my first intro to the wonderful band Belle and Sebastian. Joan is mostly notable here for chewing John out. ✰✰✰✰✰
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