Film critic Jonathan Sim's review of The Instigators, a heist comedy movie starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.
. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are no strangers to the heist genre, having co-starred in the Ocean’s trilogy. Nor are they strangers to non-heist films, appearing together in Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, Gerry, Interstellar, and last year’s acclaimed Oppenheimer. Their on-screen collaboration has spanned decades, and now, they star in a movie written by Affleck and Chuck Maclean.
The biggest weakness that holds The Instigators back is the characters. We are first introduced to Damon as Rory, a man who’s at a low point in his life and is contemplating suicide in front of his therapist. We soon meet Affleck as Cobby, and they go on a heist with Scalvo . The setup for the heist is not particularly interesting, but the setup for the characters is worse. We know that Rory needs money for his son, but we don’t get to see him or care about their relationship.
Wrong. What makes a dynamic duo so dynamic is that they are typically very different. When you think of all the great comedy duos in all the best double acts and buddy cop movies, the two people are usually quite different. They butt heads, and they have to figure out how to work together. It’s a tried and true formula that has only been tried so many times because of how true it is. This film has two characters at low points in their lives.
One of the most significant shortcomings is that the movie is unaware of how little it works. I saw this movie at the world premiere, and if there was any theater where the laughter would be the loudest, it was there. There were a few laughs here and there, but many jokes did not land at all. Ultimately, the batting average for funny jokes needed to be higher to sustain this viewing experience. The Instigators tries to have some fun with its Boston environment, but that doesn’t work either.
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