The Instigators is the male version of Mamma Mia! Everyone here, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Doug Liman, and the rest of the stacked cast look like they’re having a blast being in a movie together. I just wish that good time came with, you know, a better script? Especially from the Good Will Hunting and Live Die Repeat guys. You don’t need to die, but maybe repeat the scripting writing process one or two more times before you make your movie? Maybe? At least one more pass please?
Rory (Matt Damon) and Cabby (Casey Affleck) are your two stereotypical Boston boys. Rory’s barely trying in his therapy sessions with Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau), and Cabby is getting kids to blow into his sobriety key so he can drive his motorcycle while drunk. Both are desperate enough to take a risky heist job from baker Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his son Scalvo (Jack Harlow): steal the cash from Mayor Miccelli’s (Ron Pearlman) safe while everyone is out partying during the fundraiser for him that night.
The Instigators never really gets past “a Damon and Affleck in a Boston heist movie.” Those are usually pretty good laurels to rest on. Damon and Affleck very quickly settle into their roles, as 2 ends of a dumb heist henchmen. I particularly liked Damon’s Rory, a guy who doesn’t know anything going through the motions of his life. Watching him “take notes” during the heist set up while an incredulous Scalvo looks on works every time. And each time someone snaps at him he’s quick to come back with a “well, you said….”. Affleck’s less successful crafting something original, but against Damon’s idiot he can be the “idea man” as the heist goes sideways to keep the plot going.
The Instigators never gets past the initial pitch though. The script is a mess, twisting itself in all sorts of implausible, dumb directions to keep Affleck and Damon near each other even though they didn’t know each other before this heist. That means we’re wasting really good actors like Michael Stuhlbarg, Alfred Molina, Paul Walter Hauser, Hong Chau, Ving Rhames, stuck in not even side plots, but almost acting as plot devices to keep the Damon/Affleck pairing together. By the hour point, you realize the movie has no interest in being anything more, and that good feeling you had at the beginning starts to wither away, replaced by you picking up the phone, waiting for an explosion or a funny line of dialogue to key back in.
So what’s the big takeaway here? I’d say, if Jack Harlow shows up in your film, that’s more of a harbinger of direct to streaming hell than if Matt Damon, Doug Liman, or Casey Affleck are at the top of your billing. I like some of Harlow’s music, but he’s got some work to do to become a legitimate thespian, though props to him on throwing himself at the altar of dignity just to be in The Instigators, I guess. Hong Chau can help you deal with whatever issues you’re going through.