Main Cast: Kevin Kline, Tracey Ullman, Joan Plowright, River Phoenix, William Hurt, Keanu Reeves, Miriam Margolyes
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 97 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Lawrence Kasdan's black comedy about a wife's ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. Kevin Kline is the pizzeria owner Joey Boca in I Love You to Death. Joey is a smooth Italian lothario, modeled after Marcello Mastroianni, who cheerfully dons his plumbers overalls to repair his female tenants' plumbing in the rental apartments the family owns. Joey feels he is justified in bedding down countless numbers of women because of all the hours he puts in day after day at the pizzeria. Plus, as he tells one of his women friends, "I'm a man. I got a lotta hormones in my body." His wife Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) sweetly ignores her husband's philandering -- that is until she visits the public library and sees Joey fondling one of tenants in the book stacks. At first Rosalie considers suicide, but finally, egged on by her mother Nadja (Joan Plowright), she determines that Joey must be the one to face the music. But the people Rosalie hires to do Joey in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies -- Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves) -- who arrive at the home and blast at a slumbering figure in the bedroom. Then, while they report on their progress downstairs, Joey ambles into the living room, very much alive. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
James Gammon - Lt. Schooner; Victoria Jackson - Lacey; Jack Kehler - Wiley; Phoebe Cates - Girl at disco; Kathleen York - Dewey Brown; Heather Graham - Bridget; Lawrence Kasdan - Lawyer; Alisan Porter - Carla Boca; Jon Kasdan - Dominic Boca; Michelle Joyner - Donna Joy; John Kostmayer - Benny; Samantha Kostmayer - Waitress; Shiri Appleby - Millie; Henry Beckman - Wendel Carter; John Billingsley - Jailhouse Informant; William R. Breyette - Biker; Art Cahn - Priest; Michael Chieffo - Blue Light Bartender; Susan Chin - Reporter; Jeff Klein - Young Man with Bat; Joe Lando - Pizza Guy; Sheryl Lee; Robert Radonich - Java Jive Bartender; Audrey R. Rapoport - Librarian; Luke Rossi - Sammy; G. Valmont Thomas - Cabbie; Johnny S.B. Willis - Reporter; Tony Romano - Reporter
Credit
Jon Hutman - Art Director, Tad Tadloch - Choreography, Clara Quisenberry - Consultant/advisor, Lauren C. Weissman - Co-producer, Patrick Wells - Co-producer, Aggie Guerard Rodgers - Costume Designer, Lawrence Kasdan - Director, Anne V. Coates - Editor, Michael Grillo - Executive Producer, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), Daryl Hall - Songwriter, Lucio Dalla - Songwriter, Donovan - Songwriter, John Oates - Songwriter, Sara Allen - Songwriter, Ben Nye, Jr. - Makeup, Lilly Kilvert - Production Designer, Owen Roizman - Cinematographer, Jeffrey Lurie - Producer, Ron Moler - Producer, Charles Okun - Producer, Cricket Rowland - Set Designer, Roy Arbogast - Special Effects, John Kostmayer - Screenwriter, Bob Marley - Featured Music
I Love You to Death is a 1990 dark comedy film, directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It is loosely based on an attempted murder that happened in 1984, in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where Frances Toto repeatedly tried to kill her husband Anthony Toto. She spent four years in prison for attempted murder.
Joey Boca (Kevin Kline) is the owner of a pizza parlor located in Tacoma, Washington and has been married to Rosalie (Tracey Ullman) for years. Rosalie is horrified to discover than Joey is a womanizer, and has been cheating on her for a long time.
Rosalie doesn't want to allow Joey the pleasure of having every woman he wants, so she refuses divorce. Taking extreme measures, she enlists the help of her mother (Joan Plowright), and co-worker Devo (River Phoenix) to kill Joey in order to put an end to his infidelity. They also hire two incompetent, perpetually stoned hitmen (William Hurt and Keanu Reeves).
However, Joey proves nigh on impossible to kill. Despite multiple attempts to poison, shoot, and bludgeon Joey to death, he remains blissfully unaware that he is being targeted.
Production notes
Kevin Kline had requested that his wife, Phoebe Cates, take a small role in the film. She appeared in the bar/disco scene as the girl Joey picks up at the bar. She did this as an uncredited appearance and as a favor to her husband. She was also filming Drop Dead Fred at the time of her cameo in I Love You to Death which is why her hair looks exactly the same in both films.
