Despite winning an Oscar for playing the saddest man in all existence in “Manchester by the Sea,” Casey Affleck’s earlier roles seemed well aware that he could nail the role of an annoying kid brother. One of the best jokes in “Good Will Hunting” is Affleck in the backseat of the car singing, “I wish I had a double burger…” and then he brought that same irritating-yet-endearing energy to the trilogy of “Ocean’s” movies. While Affleck may not be playing a kid brother in his new movie “The Instigators,” it’s the same type of chattering tag-along that works incredibly well for him (and perhaps no surprise that he also co-wrote the script). Paired once again with Matt Damon, the two’s instant chemistry easily carries the film as a breezy watch that for better and worse provides the sense that the stars are making it up as they go along.
Rory (Damon) is a depressed ex-Marine on the verge of suicide, and Cobby (Affleck) is an alcoholic who needs neighborhood kids to blow into a breathalyzer to make his motorcycle start. These two down-and-out Quincy guys get roped into a heist when their mutual acquaintance, Scalvo (Jack Harlow), lands on the bad side of local mobster Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg). The plan is to rob the corrupt Mayor Miccelli (Ron Perlman) on the night of his reelection when all of his graft payments (always in cash) come through. Nothing goes according to plan, and Rory and Cobby must go on the run through Boston avoiding both angry cops and Besegai’s wrath.
Part of the film’s pop comes from knowingly taking shots at the heist genre. It’s almost like Casey Affleck saw his brother Ben’s movie “The Town,” said to himself, “It wouldn’t go down like that,” and threw up this comic version (although in actuality the script stems more from co-writer Chuck MacLean and his familiarity with the Boston underworld). We all know how the well-executed heist is supposed to go down, and Affleck’s Cobby is like the guy in the movie theater saying, “How do you know that?” when the planner lays out his vision. It’s the voice of reason sardonically deflating the balloon, and yet the wise-ass delivery makes the whole thing sing. Cobby’s not wrong, and the more we believe him, the more we’re able to go along for a ride that’s just as unlikely as any heist movie, but with the patina of jaded wisdom.
Damon makes for a good straight man in all this, letting Affleck have most of the laugh lines while playing a guy who’s also clearly out of his depth. While Damon has a long history of playing brilliant characters from “Good Will Hunting” to “The Martian,” here he looks purposefully lost—a man who has never committed a crime in his life, doesn’t want to hurt anyone, and just needs a specific amount of money for what he believes is shot at redemption. Watching Damon play, if not dumb, then certainly ignorant, is a nice change of pace, and it makes for a nice foil off the street-smart Cobby.
The pairing of Damon and Affleck is the glue that holds “The Instigators” together through its rockiest moments. The script has a recurring problem where it will introduce colorful characters, and then drop them unceremoniously when they’re no longer useful to the plot. There’s an undercurrent that if the body count gets too high, then the film will lose its light touch, but the result is you have these dangling plot threads, especially where Mr. Besegai is concerned. That’s particularly a shame when Stuhlbarg is so good (as usual), and we get the benefit of seeing him play off Alfred Molina, who plays Besegai’s right-hand man, Richie.
As the film carries on, the looseness of the script really starts to crop up as we wonder, “Hey, we haven’t seen these supporting characters in a while.” The whole thing rests on plenty of useful coincidences, but since the film’s guiding ethos is never taking itself too seriously in the first place, we can kind of get on board even when the plot strains its last shreds of credulity. Once we acknowledge that heist premises are inherently silly anyway, then all that follows oddly falls into place.
Although “The Instigators” can at times feel like a Coen Brothers movie without the polish, there’s enough charm and energy flowing through Doug Liman’s picture to keep the film humming. Affleck knows how to play to his comic strengths, and he once again has a game partner in Damon. Filling out the rest of the cast with such stellar talent (Hong Chau, Ving Rhames, Paul Walter Hauser, Toby Jones) almost works against the movie since we’d like to see more of these actors than what we get, but it all adds up to a rambunctious caper that makes for some easy viewing.
“The Instigators” will debut in select theaters Aug. 2 before its global premiere on Apple TV+ Aug. 9.
