A very strange black comedy that throws up some interesting ideas but throws them out of the window when it looks as though they might be leading to a rewarding line in laughter. But then the whole tone is much too grim to begin with, as Katharine Hepburn's Grace wallows in maudlin memories of her dead relatives, before a chance encounter with a hit-man (Nick Nolte) results on a novel idea for mass euthanasia. Even though her death-bent friends seem to have too many acquaintances to be that unhappy, the idea works reasonably well, with repugnance marginally kept at bay, until Grace asks him to kill an unpleasant taxi driver (highly unlikely) and threatens to turn him in (equally improbable) when he gets cold feet (ridiculous! ). Further developments are not only impossible but also distasteful - the film only hints at the vein of comedy that Ealing Studios (and more skilful writers than A Martin Zweiback) might have veined from it. Under the circumstances, Anthony Harvey has a very difficult job of direction, but does what he can to lighten the viewers' burden.


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