Gary Johnson teaches philosophy and psychology at the University of New Orleans while doing some freelancing for NOPD sting operations because he has some handy electronics skills. When the police lose their best undercover guy, the tech assistant finds himself talked into posing as the hitman instead.
One conversation later, the police have their suspect in custody and Gary finds himself with a new side gig. His knowledge of psychology and a gift for improv make him NOPD's most successful fake hitman ever, bringing in one failed murder-for-hire suspect after another. The real secret to Gary's success is his empathy — his ability to understand what each suspect wants in a hitman, and then make himself into exactly that.
It's a fun, far-fetched premise, sold primarily on star Glen Powell's innate likability but, of course, everything starts to go wrong when his empathy gets him mixed up with the wrong woman. Or is she? Or isn't she?
There's a delightfully playful montage of Gary playing wildly different contract killers, each tailored to a specific suspect. Then, for the lovely young Madison (Adria Arjona), Gary comes up with "Ron," a hitman so sexy even some of his police coworkers want a piece. There's real chemistry between Madison and Ron, and it's clear to the audience (and to Gary) that Madison doesn't want to kill anyone. She's married to a manipulating, belittling, and controlling husband, and all she really needs is a push to take back her life.
Instead of continuing with the sting, Gary — still as Ron — gives her that push.
If you think this is the setup for a mistaken-identity romance, well... of course it is. Gary knows that a woman like Madison would never go for a nerdy philosophy professor but he can keep playing the super-suave Ron, no problem.
No problem, that is, until somebody winds up dead — and Gary has to keep Madison and himself out of jail.
The trick to them doing so lies in the question: just how much of Ron can Gary summon when the stakes are quite real and deeply personal? Gary's evolution is smartly (some might say obviously) foreshadowed in Gary's philosophy lessons and in a conversation with his ex-wife.
Can people change? Can we fake it until we make it even when lives are on the line?
It's these questions, as much as Powell and Arjona's performances, that elevate a mistaken-identity rom-com/thriller hybrid into something a little smarter than you might have expected.
This is an old-school Hollywood script by director/co-writer Richard Linklater and Powell that lets the stars lure the audience in with charm and sex appeal, while slowly ramping up the tension. Aside from some foul language and one hot (but not very revealing) love scene, "Hit Man" could have come out of the '50s.
It was shot for about $9 million and packs far more entertainment punch than any recent Star Wars or Marvel movie costing 20 or 30 times as much to make.
There are even some Easter eggs for careful viewers. My two favorites involved Gary's various hit-person personas. One was clearly based on Christian Bale as "American Psycho" Patrick Bateman, another on Tilda Swinton as, well, Tilda Swinton — and Powell does both almost as well as Bale and Swinton do. I'm going to have to rewatch the movie just to see if I can catch any others.
Is "Hit Man" a great movie? No, but it doesn't mean to be. It's an entertainingly unlikely series of events, with the plot carried along by the charm and chemistry of its leading man and lady and the wit of its script.
That's such an old and successful formula that I thought Hollywood had forgotten it.
"Hit Man" is streaming on Netflix.
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