A capsule version of this review appeared on FITI in September 2023 during coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Directed by Richard Linklater | Written by Linklater and Glen Powell, from an article by Skip Hollandsworth | 115 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Netflix, Hoopla 

This is probably the best script Linklater’s worked with since Before Midnight and one of the few movies he’s made that are at least loosely based on reality. The genuine joy of this comedy are the tight plot twists coming thick and fast that also designate it as a crime thriller.

Hit Man details the life of Gary Johnson (Powell), a mild-mannered New Orleans psych prof and philosopher who moonlights doing computer work for the NOPD. He gets roped into going undercover to meet people who want to hire him to kill someone — when they hand over the cash, the cops grab ’em.

Turns out Gary has a gift for locking these guys and gals in to incriminating themselves, and he enjoys the psychology of it and all the dressing up.  But he gets into trouble when one of his alter egos, Ron, gets heavily involved with a woman, Madison (Adria Arjona), who wants to hire him to rub out her abusive husband.

For awhile now I’ve been doubting Powell’s movie star status, but the popularity of Anyone But You proved that this guy has his fans. Here he and Arjona have a volcanic chemistry. On the first watch I found Powell effective as Ron, but he’s not particularly plausible as a super-buff, cat-loving, nerdy academic. He doesn’t lack charisma, he’s just… quiet. It’s the male equivalent of the starlet who wears sweaters and specs but when she climbs into a little black dress and contacts she’s a knockout.

But I still see Powell as having a Bill Pullman or Aaron Eckhart energy — in other words a magnetic character actor, not really a movie star.

There’s also a moment where the picture pivots on its set-up — will Madison still be hot for our protagonist when he’s Gary and not Ron? Not to mention the fact he’s been lying to her the whole time. The movie steps clear of that question entirely by merging Gary and Ron in the final act and doubling down on its thesis about the ability to change one’s identity. Given Powell doesn’t seem to change that much, it undercuts the picture’s themes.

All that said, the script and the leads’ potent sizzle carry the day and more. A curl of the beard to the whiskery Jasper, Gary/Ron’s obnoxious colleague — actor Austin Amelio is fantastic in the part.

The movie’s also a legit New Orleans picture — the St Charles streetcar gets a couple of cameos, as does Ted’s Frostop, The Please-U Cafe, and Audubon Park. Along with Professor Longhair, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Allen Toussaint on the soundtrack, it’s so much fun seeing a movie stepping up to meet its locale.

And a plus that this is now available for free on Hoopla. After a brief run in cinemas for weeks we were teased that it was only on Netflix in the United States — it never arrived on the streamer here in Canada.