Watched: 06/15/2024
Format: Netflix
Viewing: First
Director: Richard Linklater
As a good Austinite, I feel extra pressure to watch Richard Linklater movies, and still miss half of them. But this one took literally no effort to watch as I have Netflix thanks to my T-Mobile service.
Reviews were initially pretty good for Hit Man (2023/24?), as near as I can tell. But I think the wider audience response has been more mixed. And I get it. The movie feels like it has a bit of a genre pivot or thematic pivot half-way through, and that's a pretty good way to lose people. Arguably, it goes from a sort of goofy comedy to a dark-comedy neo-noir. And that turn in the middle is some YMMV territory.
The basic set up is that we have our public college prof (people keep saying Community College, but he seems more adjunct at a full university. TERMS MEAN THINGS.), teaching philosophy and psychology. But - He moonlights for the New Orleans PD making surveillance equipment for catching people who are trying to hire a hit man, So, when the NOPD gets a tip someone is looking for a contract killer, they send in an undercover cop posing as a hit man.
One day, the main undercover cop can't do his thing, so they (Retta!) send in the tech, Gary Johnson (Glen Powell). Turns out he has a real knack for sliding into the role, and as he tries again and again, finds he can be the hit man to meet the profile of the contractee.