120 minutes of scenes that would be cut if they had a plot.Basically, there is a shadowy hit-man who likes to talk to everybody. He tells his story everywhere he goes.Talk, talk, talk.He even talks to the cops. What a nice talkative hit-man. Oh, boy.Luckily, even though half the city knows he is a hit-man, he can still pull off these hits without anybody catching on. Even when the cops catch him in the middle of a hit and know that he is a hit-man, nobody catches on. What a sneaky guy.I assume that the reason why they turned the original turkey of a play into this turkey of a movie was so the characters could be heard over the endless chants of "What kind of crap is this?" Love Whitaker. Hate everything about this movie.

"Diary of a Hit-man" is something more than the average entry into the neo-noir genre of many such films produced in the 80s/90s. They usually hold a similar trashy appeal, more style than substance, and not too much in the way of quality performances. Forest Whitaker helps to make this an exception from the mold. Here, playing a variant of his later role in "Ghost Dog", he lets you into the mind of a conflicted, controlling, somewhat neurotic hit-man.This film was adapted from a play by Kenneth Pressman, and the middle act pays testament to that. A series of scenes in a small apartment capture a real depth of emotion, both from Whitaker and his target (played by Sherilyn Fenn). It seems almost claustrophobic, but there's a power to it. Roy London doesn't show a lot of experience in his direction, but he does express a good deal of humanity. This is a grounded film, personal. There's no cheap exploitation feel, nor is there any sense of big budget Hollywood.The acting is the real reason to watch "Diary of a Hit-man". Even the small roles have something to offer. I particularly liked the two doctors, one a psychiatrist (John Bedford Lloyd), the other an optometrist (Ken Lerner). James Belushi and Sharon Stone show up briefly, but aren't given a whole lot to do. This isn't an overly complicated or particularly far-reaching film, but the narration lets you under its skin, and there's no terrible overacting or delusions of grandeur. The title might seem cheap, but "Diary of a Hit-man" has a lot more to offer.

Good 80's flik-a classic actors flik before conglomerate studios, w/ original music + real artists on soundtrack. 1 of the last b4 cookie-cutter movies became the norm and original stories/good actors, real film-making, still got promo. Whitaker and Fenn are excellent. Her best work and his emergence as Oscar winner. A shame that 2days flix need a kid starring to get a greenlight. I hate to say it, but I miss the 'studio system'- professional writers,directors,crew,timelines,productions, from top to bottom. Actors were labor like everybody else. Most of them were from stage or were multi-faceted entertainers. Where are modern Elvis, Sammy Davis, T. Curtis, L. Ball, Gleason, M.Rooney, D.Kaye, G.Kelly, Bogart,Cagney, etc.?

When I was a High School student, I learned that nothing can modify its status of repose or movement without a cause. Recalling that I tried understand why a killer suddenly repent of "all his sins" and become a "good guy"... Allegedly, the manichaeism approach of this film is the only reason that a man looking to a mother holding her baby (an allusion of the medieval portrait of the Holy Virgin?) make up his mind so quickly... I made this short beginning in order to justify a consideration about the plot: Well, the plot is very singular and leads us to several ways until the surprising dead end. The actors are well conducted by the hands of the director apprehending our attention until the final.