Hit Man

Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman, Gralen Bryant Banks, Bryant Carroll, Kate Adair
Directed by: Richard Linklater
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Romance
2024

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A psychology professor (Glen Powell) volunteers time at the police station and is thrust into pretending to be a hit man on a sting. He's exceeding good at it, so the police department enlists him to continue. His world is upturned, however, when he meets a beautiful woman (Adria Arjona) asking for him to kill her abusive husband.

Review:

Tim: Hit Man is absolutely a movie I've two minds about. On the one hand, it's a superbly acted, entertaining comedy. On the other hand, the hype got so crazy around it- Netflix's highest rated film, critical darling, etc. that the actual movie feels like it fails to live up to those expectations. I had an especially fun time watching this movie AND I believe it's vastly overrated by many critics. The acting is great, but Richard Linklater is only able to deliver a good movie.

The story is wild, and although it's "based" on a true story, the movie is upfront with the many creative liberties it took. It's really more "inspired by", but the film feels honest about this, so nothing duplicitous is taking place. The true story is not as entertaining or outlandish, but it does make the basis for a very entertaining and outlandish movie. It's certainly not a story we've seen a dozen times before- the originality of it was much appreciated.

Where the movie really shines is with the cast. Linklater has always had a way of getting the best performances from his casts and that is the case here. Glen Powell is quickly becoming a mega-star and I think it's deservedly. He's made terrific career choices and I loved seeing him paired up with Linklater again. Powell is undoubtedly leading man material, but this film really shows the incredible range he has. I've been a bigger and bigger fan of his with nearly every project and this movie shows he's not in these roles just because of his looks- he's actually a talented actor that can do a lot on screen. It was immense fun seeing him play this role, which required far more from him than your typical romance/comedy. He's excellent here and I don't know how you watch this film and not believe he'll be incredibly big very soon. We're watching his meteoric rise. I was also blown away by Adria Arjona. I do believe Linklater deserves some credit for coaxing great performances out of his cast, but that takes nothing away from Arjona's stunningly good performance. I've actually seen her in at least 4 other films, mostly in un-noteworthy roles. She did give a noticeably good supporting performance in Triple Frontier, but she's mostly been under my radar. That's no longer the case. She gives a performance crackling with energy and high charisma. She has great chemistry with Powell- watching them together is one of the highlights of this film. She takes a role that could have felt like second fiddle to Powell and matches him step-by-step the entire movie. Powell is absolutely the lead, but Arjona is every bit as good as him. She delivers the kind of performance where you know we'll all be very familiar with her name soon. It's a star-making turn.

The rest of the supporting cast is low key, but they're good. I've long liked Austin Amelio from his time on Fear the Walking Dead, even as that show utterly crumbled into one of the worst television series I've ever seen. Even when he was given awful dialogue (most of the time), you knew he had talent. It was fun to see him embrace this role and elevate it some. Retta was good and worked well opposite Sanjay Rao. Their banter was certainly a highlight. As I've said several times already, Linklater knows how to support a cast.

I've been mostly praising this film so far- there's a lot to like here. However, why do I feel like the movie failed to meet expectations? There's this weird sense I got during the film. I loved the actors, but the story felt oddly weak. The movie feels a bit too long, even at only 1 hour, 55 minutes. It drags pretty substantially in the middle, before finally pulling itself together for a fitting conclusion. There's this sense of lack of fun throughout the movie. The film is really billing itself as this quirky, fun romance/comedy, but it almost forgets about the fun. It felt like Linklater too often got pulled into the dramatic or the suspenseful, trying to do too many things. I was never quite bored with the story, but I felt a bit too disconnected. I always enjoyed watching it, but I never felt much investment outside of the acting performances. The characters left me a bit cold. I kept thinking, "Wow, Powell and Arjona and Amelio are so good in this!" verses any real emphasis on the characters they were playing. This isn't a fatal flaw, but it was odd and unexpected. Linklater feels like he allows his cast to put on an acting showcase, but the story and characters are secondary. For that reason, I'd call Hit Man a good movie, but I can't give it more credit than that. That's unexpected, given the effusive praise I heard about this film.

I don't want to dwell on all that. Hit Man won't be anywhere close to the ballpark of my favorite 2024 movies, but it's still an entertaining movie that I enjoyed watching. The performances are superb and while it may have meandering too much and had a few too many dull moments, it's still a good movie and one that I appreciated for allowing us to watching two budding stars give great, memorable performances.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Everybody Wants Some!!, Triple Frontier