Don’t Let the Sourpusses Fool You, ‘The Instigators’ is a Good Time

Co-written by Casey Affleck and starring Matt Damon (along with Casey) and produced by Damon and Ben Affleck, and set in Boston, The Instigators is a mini-reunion of Good Will Hunting principles, but that’s about where the comparisons end. Directed by the often terrific (if often just shy of greatness) Doug Liman, The Instigators is a high-speed, fairly quick in-and-outer (the film runs 102 minutes) about two mismatched troubled Bostonians trying to pull off a caper involving stealing a boatload of money from a corrupt incumbent mayor (a perfectly cast Ron Perlman). To say that almost nothing goes right would be a sizable understatement. 

Damon’s character Rory is an Iraq veteran seeing a shrink (the always welcome Hong Chau) after his marriage has crumbled and his relationship with his son is threatening to follow suit. He’s deeply in arrears in child support and other fees, and has a modest suicidal streak (if such a thing can be modest). Casey Affleck’s Cobby is a low-level felon (although there’s more to the story) who has a neighborhood kid breathe into the breathalyzer attached to his motorcycle so he can turn the key over. This is how we meet them both. 

For very different reasons, they both agree to pull a heist on the mayor’s presumed victory party (a cash only affair) with rapper Jack Harlow (pretty solid) playing the less than criminal mastermind behind the scheme—and it’s not like the overmatched Rory and Cobby are adding any great ideas. Harlow’s Scalvo is in Dutch with a crime boss played by the great Michael Stuhlbarg (in a very funny, amped up performance). The three men intend to get out of their financial troubles through raiding the mayor’s party and filling their bags with fat stacks of cash.

As I stated, nothing goes to  plan, and soon Rory and Cobby are on their own trying to figure out how to not only escape, but keep their far more meager gains than expected—except for a particular bracelet taken off the mayor’s wrist. And then there’s the matter of not getting run down by a man (hired by the mayor) who specializes in squaring things up when the cops are not a desirable option for those on the wrong side of the law—an uncredited Ving Rhames, who is right on the money. Let’s just say that’s a very important bracelet. 

What follows after the attempted robbery goes very, very wrong, is a pleasantly foul-mouthed and diverting chase movie that lives and dies with the performances of Affleck and Damon, and the pacing of Liman. Affleck’s screenplay (co-written with Chuck MacLean) has plenty of humorous rejoinders in it, and perhaps selfishly, Affleck himself gets most of them. But that’s just fine, because Affleck is consistently funny (and sometimes hilariously so) with his relentlessly agitated delivery. His sarcasm over their continually depreciating condition maintains a consistent level of comedy that is well-balanced by Matt Damon’s “straight man” performance—although it shouldn’t be missed how amusing it is to see Rory taking notes during the planning of the heist. He’s not exactly an expert at planning a criminal conspiracy, and that fact that he has to write down specifics induces numerous chuckles. 

Looking at the reviews of other critics—post my own viewing, The Instigators has received a very modest response, which surprised me. That’s not to say the aims of the film are Oscar level, but a fast-paced good time should not be underrated. Affleck and Damon have undeniable chemistry, the screenplay is tight and full of well-timed comedic lines (Affleck’s continuous references to the bullet hole in his shoulder, and his frustration with Damon’s somnambulant responses often left me in stitches), and Liman’s direction is razor sharp. 

There’s an attempt to add some pathos to Damon’s Rory at the end of the film that doesn’t quite land (even if the film sets it up reasonably well prior), but that’s a minor quibble in a film that hits the target so consistently. And what is that target? Perhaps the most simple one of all—to entertain.

Is The Instigators a great or overly ambitious movie? No. But it’s a pretty great time. And truth be told, so many current films don’t seem to offer a “good time” without resorting to capes, ray-guns, monsters, robots, or over-edited action extravaganzas that may fill the eyeballs with lots of bright lights and activity, but very little character. 

That’s not to say that The Instigators is on the level of a crime-based character study like Emily the Criminal, or Jackie Brown, but there is plenty of character in it. I suppose the film is helped greatly by Affleck and Damon’s authentic Boston background—they slip into their parts with such ease, one never argues their authenticity. But there is more than local flavor and familiarity going on here. 

At a time when so many films feel the need to stuff their films with a self-important running time (and to be clear, I love me a good lengthy movie, but did Twisters really need to crest two hours?). The Instigators knows exactly what it’s here for: to entertain minus any (and I do mean any) bloat. I think if you give it a chance, you’ll be here for it too.