Since Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater has been a scary judge of young talent. He helped jumpstart the early careers of Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Parker Posey and Giovanni Ribisi – just to name a few actors who appeared in his first films. That same ability could also be found in Everybody Wants Some!!, a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused that co-starred a younger Glen Powell a couple years before he got everyone’s attention in Top Gun: Maverick. Recognizing talent and nurturing it are two different endeavors, and with Linklater’s latest, Hit Man, the stalwart indie director has done something new. In his new genre hybrid, a genuinely sexy romantic comedy that also unfolds like a slow-burn thriller, Linklater announces Powell as a true star. But his film is more than a vehicle for Powell. It is also a rare pleasure among modern movies: a crowd-pleaser for adults that is not based on any existing intellectual property, and never once condescends to its audience.
The screenplay, credited to Linklater and Powell and based on short story by Skip Hollandsworth, uses a clever bait-and-switch to accentuate Powell’s natural charisma. He stars as Gary, a psychology professor in New Orleans who moonlights with the undercover unit of the city’s police department. Mostly he helps on the surveillance side, the kind of freelancer who stays in the spy van rather than in the field, at least until the usual undercover cop Jasper (Austin Amelio) has a temporary suspension. Left with no alternative, the unit tells Gary to go undercover as an assassin, a role where he tricks amateur criminals into paying him to kill someone, just so they face an attempted murder charge. Gary’s clothes do not fit and he wears jorts – a kind of unassuming dork that is easy to forget – so it is a shock when he first goes undercover. Charismatic and clever, Gary has a knack for improvisation and remains cool under pressure. Powell’s first undercover scene is a genuine delight, not just for the audience but also for Gary, since he also surprises himself.
Gary continues working as a hit man, changing his vibe based on the person the cops plan to arrest. This leads to a great montage of Powell in disguises and accents, an impressive chameleon-like quality for an actor whose good looks are old-fashioned (you can squint and see a young Paul Newman in him). That routine is diverting for Gary, at least until he meets Madison (Adria Arjona), a young woman who wants to murder her abusive husband. They develop a rapport almost immediately, with Gary as a hunky alter ego named “Ron,” so he takes pity on her. Rather than entrap Madison, Ron convinces her not to go through with the hit. This annoys Gary’s police colleagues, but he does not care because Madison is a stunner, and he had fun flirting with her. Before long, Gary/Ron begin a secret relationship with Madison based on mutual attraction and sex – okay, mostly sex – while Gary has no choice but to keep secrets from everyone. Naturally, the untenable situation nearly blows up in his face.
Hit Man strikes an unusual balance between a thriller and a “hangout movie,” a Linklater specialty where he lets his actors and characters talk longer than the genre requires of them. Such a gambit could be slow, making the audience impatient, but Linklater finds secondary thrills in the tension between Ron and Madison. They are a natural fit, since the Ron persona has a dangerous streak to him, and Madison – at the minimum – is the kind of woman who sees the appeal in someone who would kill for her. The actors also seduce each other, and the audience. With a voice that sounds a little like Matthew Rhys in the TV series The Americans and a quick smile, Powell seduces us with Ron’s charm and Gary’s infectious, dorky enthusiasm. This film is also arguably an announcement for Arjona, just like Powell, and her performance is sexy in that “girl next door” way that recalls early Julia Roberts performances. The sequel/remake cinematic marketplace has little room for star power, and this film shows how the “it” factor is way more compelling than a character in a cape you’ve seen dozens of times before.
Hit Man is a bit like Zero Effect, a mostly forgotten romantic thriller from the late 1990s. It starred Bill Pullman as a private detective, an eccentric mess of a man who has reserves of confidence only while he is on the job, then falls in love while working a case. Like Pullman, Powell’s character succeeds because he is a student of a human behavior. There are scenes where Gary describes his undercover work as “field research,” and his time with Madison teaches him about whether individuals are slaves to their nature, or whether they can change their behavior through practice and circumstance. It is a seductive idea, one that Gary finds himself thrust into because his attraction to Madison is borderline compulsive. Linklater shrewdly realizes that this gambit would not work without chemistry, and there are exchanged glances in this film that are genuinely erotic.
The biggest pleasure in Hit Man, the scene that makes it transition from a good film into a nearly great one, happens toward the end. The set-up for the scene is complicated, a mix of imperfect information and circumstance that is too complicated to describe, except to say Gary has no choice but to trust that Madison can think on her feet just as quickly as he can. The dialogue, body language and subterfuge are a downright joy, a kind of deception that also doubles as flirting and the weirdest kind of reconciliation you will ever see. In the years ahead, this scene just might become a classic, a swansong for what good romantic comedies could accomplish, or if we are lucky, maybe it will be a moment that turns the tide for the floundering genre. Hit Man is so fun, a great time at the movies, and unfolds with such a light touch that perhaps we cannot see just how difficult it is to make something like this look so easy.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
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