INSTIGATORS, THE

(director/writer: Doug Liman; screenwriters: Chuck MacLean,Casey Affleck; cinematographer: Henry Braham; editors: William Goldenberg, Saar Klein, Tatiana S. Riegel; music: Christophe Beck; cast: Matt Damon (Rory), Casey Affleck (Cobby), Hong Chau (Dr. Donna Rivera), Alfred Molina (Richie Dechico), Paul Walter Hauser (Booch), Michael Stuhlberg (Mr. Besegai), Jack Harlow (Scalvo), Ving Rhames (Frank Toomey), Toby Jones (Attorney Alan Flynn), Andre De Shields (Mr. Kelly), Ron Perlman (Mayor Miccelli); Runtime: 101; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Kevin J. Walsh, John Graham, Jeff Robinov,Matt Damon,Casey Affleck; Apple Original Films; 2024)

“It’s neither a good film nor a terrible one, but with its star talent it should have been a better one.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A breezy buddy action-comedy that’s sloppily edited and weakly directed by Doug Liman (“The Bourne Identity”/”Mr. & Mrs. Smith”). It’s co-written by him, Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck with a cliched script and unbelievable twists. It’s set in Damon and Affleck’s hometown of Boston.

It tells a cliched story of desperation, greed and dishonor.

The morose Rory (Matt Damon) is a broke ex-marine whose military therapist Dr Rivera (Hong Chau) is treating him for depression and suicidal tendencies. Rory needs cash to pay off his lapsed alimony payments of $32,000 in order to be allowed to see his son. His alcoholic, loudmouth pal is Cobby (Casey Affleck), a temperamental ex-con working as a bar manager. A condition of his parole is to stay sober. He gets around this by getting the neighborhood kids to blow into the alcohol-test device he’s asked to piss into.

The buddies are asked by the maligned local crooks posing as businessmen, the volatile Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg) and Dechico (Alfred Molina), to rob the safe of the corrupt mayor’s (Ron Perlman) re-election victory party–costing guests $500 for admittance to the event. But the safe is empty when the mayor loses the election, and with their plans going up in smoke the two bickering losers go on the run from the cops, the mayor’s goons and their criminal partners. There’s a diverting police chase through downtown Boston, with Fenway Park in the picture in case we weren’t sure if we were in Boston.

It’s neither a good film nor a terrible one, but with its star talent it should have been a better one.

REVIEWED ON 8/8/2024  GRADE: C+
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