Men would rather yap nonsense endlessly than go to therapy. Unless they're a hockey dad with an oddly specific amount of debt, of course. Doug Liman directs the new crime comedy The Instigators, which follows some regular ol' dudes in Boston's underworld. Rory (Matt Damon) is a troubled father in need of some easy money who gets hired by crime boss Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg) to do a job for him alongside Cobby (Casey Affleck), a former convict with a bad case of never-shutting-up. Along with another criminal Scalvo (Jack Harlow), they're tasked with a robbery at a fundraising event for corrupt mayor Miccelli (Ron Perlman). But the robbery eventually goes horribly wrong and so the two quarrelling partners in crime, Rory and Cobby, find themselves on the run from the cops and other local goons. Rory's therapist Donna Rivera (Hong Chau) soon joins them as a willing hostage too.
Considering that this is by all accounts meant to be a humorous caper and an easy watch, you can detect the trouble right from the get-go as the film struggles to hit that pitch in its first few scenes, something that it pretty much also fails to do in the following hour and a half. You have a co-lead like Damon who's no stranger to the crime genre, and a director and craftspeople who can deliver exciting drama or action, whether in TV or film, and yet somehow everything about this feels incredibly static and dull, never mind the shallow waters that the characters are swimming in in terms of their personalities. The script, written by Affleck and Chuck Maclean, does not produce the sort of vigour and frenzy that these genres require. You might forgive less important elements like the messy plotting if there was enough fun to be found, but the writing is shockingly unfunny and unfocused throughout.
You can't help but to look to Affleck in the (literal) driver's seat for answers when it comes to these problems because in addition to below average screenwriting, his acting also doesn't meet the standards. It's completely charmless as both the comedic timing and jokes (again, co-written by him) are nonexistent, while the actor's vocal performance above all is extremely poor. Damon plays the straight man role decently—plus the script at least offers one nice payoff in his character's journey regarding fatherhood—and supporting players like Ving Rhames (as special agent Frank Toomey) and André De Shields (bar owner Mr. Kelly) provide some moments of light amusement, but they're frequently undermined by miscast Affleck and other actors like Paul Walter Hauser (goon Booch) who's giving a truly terrible performance here. Excluding a few solid car stunts, Liman and his team's filmmaking efforts aren't helping either.
The utter lack of propulsion, comedic talent and finesse in The Instigators cannot be understated. Honestly speaking, it shouldn't be so hard to make a certified crowd-pleaser with all these creative people coming together, but somehow, all we got was a massive disappointment. Let's go watch hockey, if not some better movies, instead.
Smileys: Ving Rhames
Frowneys: Casey Affleck, humour, screenplay, Paul Walter Hauser
How do you feel about this one? Asking for a therapist, obviously.
1.5/5
Where to watch:
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