Though depression lurks around the edges of Doug Liman鈥檚 heist movie is a loosely amiable return to South Boston for Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, who also co-wrote the film.
In the film鈥檚 opening moments, Rory (Damon), a former Marine, tells his therapist, Dr. Rivera (Hong Chau), that after a lifetime of screw ups and disappointments, he鈥檚 not so much forlorn as simply ready to 鈥渃ash in鈥� his ticket. His phrase is a telling one for a film where midlife disappointments and a ramshackle heist-gone-wrong plot collide in farcical ways. As a last-ditch effort and to raise $32,480 for his child support payments, Rory signs up with a criminal band of misfits to steal election-night payouts to a corrupt Boston mayor (Ron Perlman) running for reelection.
Therapists have made their ways into crime dramas like 鈥淭he Sopranos,鈥� but 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� (in theaters Thursday, on Apple TV+ Aug. 9) adds a novel wrinkle by bringing Dr. Rivera along for the ride. When Rory and Cobby (Affleck) go on the run, she tags along as a hostage by choice.
But it takes a little time for the buddy comedy to develop. First, 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� works in a large percentage of today鈥檚 top character actors 鈥� among them Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfred Molina, Ving Rhames, Toby Jones and Paul Walter Hauser 鈥� all of whom raise the bar in this rudderless but winningly shaggy action comedy.
Liman, the director of 鈥淕o,鈥� 鈥淭he Bourne Identity鈥� and the recent has always had a knack for freewheeling ensembles and for getting the most out of his stars鈥� charisma. 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� may be a modern streaming movie but it鈥檚 a decidedly old-school kind of caper, stock full of local color and peopled with faces you鈥檙e happy to see. It鈥檚 a product of Damon and Ben Affleck鈥檚 Artists Equity, which produced the film from the script by Casey Affleck and 鈥淐ity on the Hill鈥� creator Chuck MacLean.
For them, the blue-collar Boston terrain of 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� is about as a cozy as bleacher seat in Fenway Park. 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� doesn鈥檛 live up to other Damon-Afflecks Beantown-set movies (鈥淕ood Will Hunting,鈥� 鈥淕one Baby Gone,鈥� 鈥淭he Town鈥�), and some of their Dunkin鈥� Donuts-adjacent schtick is at least approaching stale. You could call it a homecoming but it鈥檚 more like they never left.
So, yes, this is them very much in their element, but that goes especially true for Affleck, the main reason to see 鈥淭he Instigators.鈥� His Cobby is a drunk and convict who enlists in the heist out of a lack of other options. It鈥檚 an ill-considered scheme by a pair of small-time gangsters (Stuhlbarg, Molina), one of whom runs a bakery as a front. They dispatch a trigger-happy small-time crook (Jack Harlow) to lead the mission, a debacle from the get go. Nothing goes right, not even the expected election result, and out of the melee clatter Cobby and Rory, with a special police investigator (Rhames) in steadfast pursuit.
On the run, their double act 鈥� Damon鈥檚 earnest deadpan, Affleck鈥檚 smart-aleck flippancy 鈥� works as well as it ever has, even if the script could use a touch more wit. Affleck makes up for it with his melancholic motormouth routine, one that gets an even better foil once Chau, is roped into their escape. Though Liman knows how to mix action and comedy as well as anyone, 鈥淭he Instigators鈥� is better whenever there's less going on.
鈥淭he Instigators,鈥� an Apple release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for pervasive language and some violence. Running time: 101 minutes. In Finnish with English subtitles. Three stars out of four.
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
