Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, William Hurt, Joan Plowright, River Phoenix
• Directors: Lawrence Kasdan
• Writers: John Kostmayer
• Producers: Charles Okun, Jeffrey Lurie, John Kostmayer, John P. Marsh, Lauren Weissman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Italian, Serbo-Croatian
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: June 24, 1994
• Run Time: 97 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800102371
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,468 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This spotty black comedy from Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill)--based on a true story--stars Kevin Kline as a womanizing pizzeria owner whose mousy wife (Tracey Ullman) tries multiple ways of murdering him with the aid of sundry friends and hired hands. The film never picks up the necessary momentum or develops the necessary tone to drive it, and one is left picking and choosing which of the performers is at least adequately entertaining. Kline is good but perhaps a bit too theatrical, and Joan Plowright is hilarious as his mother-in-law. The funniest joke in the whole thing belongs to William Hurt and Keanu Reeves as deeply-stoned, would-be-killers who emerge from a taxi and look as if they can't remember what planet they're on. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Real Skinny, February 9, 2008

By 

George Charles "gzspot" (Penna., USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Love You to Death [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This movie is based on the real life antics that occurred here in Allentown, Pa. to a friend of mine, his family and employees.

Here's the story: "When Anthony Toto, 37, a pizza-shop owner in Allentown, Pa., put up $50,000 bail for his wife Frances Lenore, the local police and others in the community were stunned. The reason: according to charges filed by the district attorney, Frances had conspired to murder her husband -- not once but twice.

The bizarre case began on Jan. 25. That night, prosecutors contend, Anthony Bruno, the 20-year-old boyfriend of Toto's 17-year-old daughter Elizabeth, crept into Toto's bedroom, located the .25-cal. gun that Toto kept near his bed and fired a bullet into his head. Toto was grievously but not fatally wounded.

Then his wife Frances allegedly began force-feeding him large doses of barbiturates, which succeeded only in putting him into a semiconscious state. Two days later, according to police, two friends of Anthony Bruno's, hired by Frances for $500, showed up in the bedroom to finish the job. They were Ronald Barlip, 19, and his cousin Donald, 18. The bullet one of them allegedly fired entered an inch from Toto's heart, but it too proved not to be lethal.

Police, tipped off by an informant, entered the Toto house two days later and found Toto asleep, breathing heavily: doctors later speculated that the barbiturates he had been given may have saved his life by drastically lowering his metabolism and retarding the bleeding.

Police arrested Frances, Bruno, the Barlips and the two Toto children, Elizabeth and Anthony. Toto was released from the hospital two weeks later, with the first bullet still lodged in his skull. He says he intends to stand by his family during the coming court proceedings. Said an Allentown police detective: "He loves her." The district attorney's office is said to be worried about the case: Tony Toto promises to be a hostile witness." Tony's wife was found guilty and sentenced to time in Muncy, Pa. women's correctional facility. Tony moved the family there to be near her. Art and Linda Beers wrote the non-fiction book that was bought for the movie. After coming out to L.A. to do the screenplay, they were ripped off for all their efforts by not getting any credit for their work. The credit for it went to John Kostmayer who didn't do the real digging for the story, he just adjusted the work of the Beers'.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Take The Family...Please!, August 24, 2005

By 

Gregor von Kallahann - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Love You to Death (DVD)

I hadn't really studied the package that closely, but as the opening credits were playing, I couldn't help but think, "Wow! This is, like, the dream cast." I knew, of course, that it featured Tracey Ullman and Kevin Kline as the leads. But Joan Plowright! River Phoenix (what a tragic loss)! William Hurt! They even squeezed character actress Miryam Margolies. And, of course, you've got Keanu Reeves in yet another stoner role, but you know, you gotta give Keanu credit. No one did those roles better. He is spot on here.

A black comedy based on actual events? Hmm, how often do you come across something of that ilk? It is, as many reviewers have noted, something less than a complete success, and there were actually moments when I was ready to give up on it. Some of the shifts were just too abrupt. But if it falters here and there, the movie seems to somehow pick itself right back up again. The arrival of drugged out Harlan and Marlon (Hurt and Reeves) comes at one such lull and their presence gives the film a shot in the arm (no pun intended).

Not all of the gags work, of course, but the stellar cast is always worth watching. If you've ever wondered whether Tracey Ullman was more of a sketch comedian than an actress, her performance here should lay any such doubts to rest. As her mom, Joan Plowright is an absolute hoot. I can't tell for sure whether this legendary British actress's "Yugoslavian" accent is as flawless as countrywoman Ullman's "all-American" one, but she is so priceless, I can't imagine even the proudest Croatian critic arguing the point.

What of the "actual events" on which this is based? Apparently, the movie gets the gist of it, maybe more. Apparently, the Pennsylvania couple on which these seemingly impossible characters are based really did go through all of this and were still together last anyone knew. And the hubby really did change his wayward ways after his wife's multiple attempts to murder him. One discrepancy that I did read about, however, was that she really did wind up serving some time. But call that cinematic license.

There is at least an interesting subtext about Old World values and codes, and how they can justify all kinds of "outrageous" behavior (by contemporary US standards), while still seeming to be fundamentally "conservative" in nature. But that's for a doctoral dissertation or something. For our present purposes, let's just say that this oddball dark comedy is one worth seeing.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far Under-Rated Comedy.., May 9, 2004

By 

A. Scataglia "clean freek" (Jeannette PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: I Love You to Death (DVD)

I saw this movie shortly after it's release on HBO in the earliy '90s. It has a full fledge cast that just make it superb to watch. Kevin Kline as Joey the Pizzaria Owner, who just can't get enough women, and is soo fun loving. Tracy Ullman plays his wife Rosalee, who loves her husband soo much, she would rather kill him than share him with any other woman. Joan Plowright plays Rosalee's Mother, who has a nack for mechanical work and it's nothing for her to be working on a carbortor at the Dinner Table at a restaraunt while the family is dinnig out. River Phoenix plays the boy who works at the Pizzaria, and is deeply in love with Rosalee, so much so,that he is willing to aid her in knocking off her husband, only after the futile attempts from Rosalee and her Mom. After he fails, they call in a couple of bargin basement junkies,(William Hurt & Keanu Reeves) from the local tavern to finish the job, but even they can't seem to pull it off. It's just one good laugh after another. I wore out my VHS Tape and then got the Laser Disc. I was happy to discover that it has been released on DVD!

Also, I believe that this is based on a true story as well!!