Diary of a Hitman (1991) is a perversely romantic morally suspicious sentimental suspense tale. It's about a hitman (Forest Whitaker) hired to kill a gangster's addict wife (Sherilyn Fenn) & her infant bastard child. Killing a baby goes beyond the pale even for a tried & true hitman & he has a crisis of identity, for a good hitman should be able to complete any commission without guilt or sadness.

Through angst & anger that works itself out violently against Jain, he slowly develops such compassion for her & her child that he's transformed into per protector.

So much of it takes place in the woman's apartment that it has the general look & feel of a live play, having been based on the Kenneth Pressman stage play Insider's Price & being inadequately transformed into a screenplay.

It relies on acting rather than the usual pyrotechnics of thrillers, which could've been for the good, except that Diary of a Hitman is phony & unrealistic throughout.

In particular, we required to believe that Jean no less than Dekker "learns & grows" by her "friendship" with the man who arrives to killer her. That she successfully convinces him not to kill her & her infant is a wonderful experience for her. She becomes truly fond of the killer & might never do drugs again.

This would've been nonsensical even within the context of Stockholm syndrome, but here we're supposed to believe they're two lost souls who help each other heal.

Nevertheless, Forest Whitaker is such a wonderful actor he's fun to watch even in the midst of a hundred-percent ridiculous script.

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