This one was pretty wildly praised as the kind of film they don't make any more and a film for adults. I'm not sure about that, but it was entertaining enough, although the ending is divisive. Apparently it's loosely based on this article about a real man called Gary Johnson (like the main character in the film). The basic premise is that he teaches philosophy and psychology
(odd combination, I'd say) at the University of New Orleans and lives alone with two cats (and in general, shows certain autistic traits), but is an electronics hobbyist, and because of this, gets involved with providing the New Orleans PD with listening devices. Then, one day, he's on a stake out (or something) with two members of the NOPD with whom he works regularly (amusingly played by Retta and Sanjay Rao) when Jasper,
the detective they normally work with (who will turn into the antagonist of the film) is summarily suspended because a video of some violence he perpetrated on some youths goes viral. Gary is drafted in to take his place as a fake hit man whom the person they're expecting in the diner has attempted to hire. It turns out that Gary is a natural at playing a fake hit man (one of the contentions of the film is that all hit-men-for-hire are fake, there's literally no such thing) and is a lot more pleasant to work with than the racist, misogynist Jasper. He uses it as an opportunity to become somebody other than his humdrum self, and in fact tailors his outfit and persona to the hit man he thinks each target wants. This is a very fun part of the film, as we run through a series of obnoxious marks who get their comeuppance (although we later find out that often the spouses that are their usual targets forgive them and charges are dropped, resulting in them embracing in the courtroom and then both glaring at Gary). Very quickly Gary establishes a tradition whereby his mark meets him in a diner where he will be eating pie and they say "that pie looks good" and his response (so that they know this is the hit man they've hired) is "any pie is good pie". Well, this happens with his latest mark, Madison, who just happens to be young, female and drop-dead gorgeous.
Moreover she is funny and charming. He discovers that she wants him to kill her husband because (she claims) he is abusive and won't let her do anything and she feels trapped and endangered. He has a sudden crisis of conscience and tells her to take the money she was about to pay him and go to start a new life. This she does, as he discovers a few weeks later when she contacts him again at a puppy adoption (they had an exchange about cats and dogs where he ridiculed her belief that cats were known to smother children) and both become further smitten with each other. (Of course, she is in love with "Ron," the suave hit man persona he purpose-built for her.) One thing leads to another and soon he is having passionate sex at her new house.
They both want this to continue, but of course, his life as a hit man makes things difficult. She is understanding: no meeting at his house, no questions about where he's been, just regular trysts at her place.
Things are going swimmingly when three events throw a spanner in the works. The first is the return from suspension of Jasper, who is not at all happy at having lost his job to Gary. (Actually, come to think of it, this happens before the original meeting with Madison, because Jasper tries to use the fact that Gary let her go as a sign that he's not up for the job. And this is important, because he knows what Madison looks like.) The second is that on one fateful night "Ron" and Madison go out to a club to dance, and on leaving it bump into Madison's ex. (Apparently not-quite-ex - the divorce that she has told Gary is underway, is not, in fact (one gets the impression she might be Catholic).) He pesters them until "Ron" draws a gun on him and sees him off. Following this, the two go to a fast-food place and are sitting outside when they bump into Jasper, who doesn't blow Gary's cover but does recognize Madison. This causes all sorts of problems when, three, the husband tries to hire a hit man (to kill Madison, and, if possible, her new boyfriend) and Gary shows up and after initially concealing his face, reveals himself before taking the money as a way to intimidate the husband. Jasper is listening in to this exchange and it puzzles him. Then Gary warns Madison that her ex may try to bump her off, but she claims not to be worried. And then the ex shows up dead! And Gary suspects Madison. And so do the NOPD. Can he save her? Should she be saved? Is she a psycho? What will happen if she finds out that Ron is really Gary? Has she been setting him up this whole time (because the NOPD are also very interested in the man who was seen to threaten her ex with a gun outside a club). Will Jasper figure it all out and make things difficult for them?
As you can see, there are the bones there of a killer film noir. The Coen brothers could really have made something out of this. But Richard Linklater and his co-writer (and leading man) Glenn Powell evidently want to keep things light, perhaps because the whole falling-for-a-client thing never happened to the real Gary Johnson, and they evidently want to honor him. I must confess, I'm not as bothered by the ending as most people (including Jami) seem to be, in part because it's thumbing its nose at certain, perhaps moralistic conventions, but I recognize that the end result is to make Madison look a little unhinged. Anyway, any film that stars a philosophy professor is okay in my book, and the nearly two hours flew by, so I can't complain there.
No comments:
Post a Comment