Hit Man
2023
**½
Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Molly Bernard, Evan Holtzman, Mike Markoff, Lee Eddy, Michael J. Lyons
Gary Johnson, an unassuming college professor, assists the New Orleans PD in sting operations by posing as a hitman. Things get messy when he becomes romantically involved with Madison, a woman who wants her husband killed. Like Bernie, Richard Linklater's dark and very loosely fact-based caper comedy is based on a Texas Monthly article by Skip Hollandsworth. The story is thematically interesting: Gary lectures about identity and self-perception in his day job, and creates different personas in his side job. However, the film itself is surprisingly underwhelming, often dull, and definitely too long. The unexpected ending feels wrong, as we still know nothing about Madison. The final scene really put me off.
