After a limited release in cinemas, Hit Man dropped on Netflix and right into the Top 10 list. Richard Linklater’s crime comedy, which he co-wrote with leading man Glen Powell, is based on “somewhat true story,” of an undercover police contractor, that first appeared in a 2001 issue of Texas Monthly magazine, written by Skip Hollandsworth.
It would have gone into the stranger-than-fiction slot, but for the utterly convincing performance by Powell, as Gary Johnson, a nerdy professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans. He dresses in beige, lives alone with two cats, and has bird-watching as a hobby. His still friendly ex wife thinks he needs a woman and a therapist.
As a tech geek, Gary does some freelance work for the police, and when an officer is suspended for misconduct, he has to quickly step in, because he has a “perfectly forgettable” face. What he is required to do is pretend to be a hit man and get his customer or client to state his intention to hire him to kill someone. The recording helps convict the client before the crime is committed. To his own and everybody else’s surprise, Gary turns out to be really good at adopting a new persona each time; even though not required, he wears disguises and puts on accents to become a person who is not as dull as his real self.
On the job, pretending to be the hired killer Ron, he meets the gorgeous Madison (Adria Arjona), who wants her abusive husband killed. Immediately attracted to her, Ron advises her not to go ahead with it, and soon, they start having a steamy affair.
Jasper (Austin Amelio) the suspended cop wants his job back, but Gary has such a high conviction rate, that the boss wants to retain him. Gary as Ron gets in too deep with Madison’s marital drama and Jasper gets a chance to trip him up.
These transformations start to alter Gary, make him more alive and exciting, prompting his female students to whisper, “When did our professor get hot?” His lectures on Id and Ego start to reflect what is going on in his life.
The film is romantic and funny, with femme fatale Madison, with her helpless victim act, twisting Gary round her little finger. But after experiencing the high of being sexy, desirable Ron, Gary does not want to go back to his boring old self. Glen Powell is so likeable, and so deserving of happiness, that the audience is inclined to forgive him both for his foolishness, and his bravado. In Richard Linklater’s filmography (that includes Boyhood, and Before Midnight), Hit Man may be a lightweight entry, but sometimes, a filmmaker might just want to have some fun and transmit that to the viewer.
Hit Man
Directed by Richard Linklater
Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio and others
On Netflix
