Kate Frazier (Kelly Macdonald) escapes from her abusive policeman husband Michael (Bobby Cannavale). She moves to Chicago living an isolated life avoiding questions about her black eye. Professional assassin Frank Logan (Michael Keaton) is becoming suicidal. She sees his silhouette after his latest kill. Police detective Murcheson takes an interest in her. She befriends Frank over a Christmas tree, not knowing his real job.

It's a sad, slow march in the first half. Macdonald and Keaton keep the interest quite well. Murcheson needs a more compelling actor. Keaton takes his first step into directing. He has a steady and confident hand. His performance has the quiet intensity. Cannavale has a great threatening sensibility. I would love to see Keaton attempt another directing gig.

Fleeing an abusive relationship Kate Frazier heads to Chicago and gets a job as a receptionist; one day as she leaves work she looks up at the falling snow and sees a man, Frank Logan, standing on a rooftop about to jump; she screams and he falls backwards onto the roof. When the police arrive there is no sign of the man so she goes home feeling good about saving a life. It is only later that she learns he was a killer who had shot a man moments before! She meets the man again when he helps her with her Christmas tree although she has no idea who he is. They gradually become friends although the police haven't lost interest in Kate; mostly because one of the officers is hoping for a less then professional relationship with her. When Kate's husband returns claiming to have found God she is scared and tells the police but it is Frank who 'deals' with him… it is only a matter of time before she discovers the truth about him and when she does will she be safe?

The packaging for this suggests a thriller with a fair amount of action; in fact we only see Frank kill two people and those are in early scenes designed to show his character rather than to be exciting. There are no chases, shootouts or explosions and the small number of deaths that occur later are off-screen; we just see them as they are found. This is far more a character study as we get to know Kate and Frank as they in turn get to know each other and their secrets. Kelly Macdonald is delightful as Kate; nicely capturing her character's nervousness. Michael Keaton is equally good as Frank the suicidal hit man… he also does a fine job directing; I wouldn't have guessed this was his first film in that role. Despite the title this is not exactly a merry film although there are a few gentle laughs to be had. Overall a good film for those who don't need lots of action and don't need to see everything wrapped up neatly at the end.

No captions' flat affect unsatisfying ending

"The Merry Gentleman" is a very strange film. It also is a very unsatisfying one because I liked so much of it and the film's ending really did not deliver.

The film is about an unlikely friendship that develops between a suicidal assassin (Michael Keaton) and a woman, Kate (Kelly MacDonald),who has been abused by her partner. What links them is tenuous and the ending really, really not at all what I'd hoped. This is a real shame, as the movie, up until that point, has terrific and highly original. It also never really delved into Keaton's character well enough. His motivation, in particular, is confusing to say the least.

Overall, had the ending been better, this would have been an excellent film. As it is, the story could really have used a bit of work...though there is still enough to this story to make it worth seeing.