The Instigators tries to be a different kind of buddy movie.
Two would-be thieves (played by real-life buddies Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) inhabit a crazed plot full of robberies and car chases (rather good ones, I might add) while whining and being generally grumpy and scared the whole time. So, it’s a bit of a bummed-out-buddies movie.
To me, it was a breath of fresh air. I have to give a few demerits for some unforgivably implausible moments and some copouts, but overall, I enjoyed director Doug Liman’s latest.
Rory (Damon) and Cobby (Affleck) get involved in a plan to rob a big-city mayor (Ron Perlman) on election night. The supposedly bulletproof plan was put together by an angry crime lord (Michael Stuhlbarg, cast against type—and hilarious), and things don’t go as planned. Rory and Cobby wind up on the run, eventually with Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) in tow.
Liman (whose last film, Road House, also went straight to streaming) provides some terrific car-chase sequences, and the initial robbery is fun stuff, but some of the ensuing circumstances cheese out with implausible solutions. Rory and Cobby basically get out of every impossible situation, sometimes offscreen, with no real explanation. The ending is a true howler.
Damon’s uncertain, neurotic, nervous attitude is a refreshing turn for him, while Affleck is his usual droll, smart-assed self. The two are good together, and they make you give a crap about Rory and Cobby, even when the script cheats them a bit.
One more minor quibble: Stuhlbarg and Alfred Molina (playing one of his cronies) are great in this movie, but the screenplay exiles them and limits their screen time. A little more of these guys would’ve gone a long way.
The Instigators is now streaming on Apple TV+.
