Whole Nine Yards, The

A Montreal dentist (Matthew Perry) stumbles into gangland intrigue when a former mob hit-man (Bruce Willis) moves in next door. Mitchell Kapner’s Damon Runyon-esque script, though lightweight and trivial, at the very least keeps us guessing right up to the end. Willis is top-billed, but he really plays straight-man to Perry, and he’s just the kind of straight man Perry needs. Smirking and nonchalant as on his old series Moonlighting, Willis regards Perry with an indulgent bemusement that nicely offsets Perry’s hyperventilated sitcom flailing; the low-key response makes Perry funnier than he probably would be otherwise. Meanwhile, director Jonathan Lynn keeps the show moving at a steady pace, lets the performers get comfortable in their roles, and maintains an atmosphere of pleasant tomfoolery.