Hit Man: Charming Combination of Actor and Director

Netflix

4/5 stars

One of the biggest joys of watching a movie is the vicarious thrill of briefly inhabiting a much more exciting life. For a few hours we can experience being a globe-trotting adventurer or a super suave secret agent. Naturally, Richard Linklater gives us his own unique take on this thrill with his new film Hit Man, a funny and very likable romantic comedy. While the third act does go a little too far into the realm of the ridiculous, it works thanks to Linklater's mastery of dialogue and a perfectly cast lead actor.

Very loosely based on the true story of Gary Johnson (Glen Powell), a mild-mannered philosophy professor at a New Orleans community college who spends his free time posing as a contract killer to assist in police stings. Gary fully commits to the life of a professional hit man, but when he falls for one of his "clients," Madison (Adria Arjona), does she love him or his deadly alter ego? And how far will he take his role to win her affections?

This story is Powell's show and he proves more than up to the task, convincing us that he is both a kind-hearted teacher and a deadly assassin. Linklater gives us a modern take on the classic screwball comedy and like those films, he fills it with smart, witty dialogue and the boundless chemistry between the two leads. This is the guy who gave us the Before Trilogy after all.

The film loses itself a little in the end, straining credibility even for a story this outlandish, but it still makes for inherently watchable entertainment. Hit Man is currently available on Netflix. 

Directed by Richard Linklater // Written by Linklater and Glen Powell // Based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth // Starring Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman, and Gralen Bryant Banks // Netflix // 116 minutes // Rated R