Title: The Instigators
Describe This Movie In One Good Will Hunting Quote:
BILLY: You’re legally allowed to drink now, so we figured the best thing for you was a car.
Brief Plot Synopsis: A dimwit and a drunk walk into an election night party…
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 2.5 Wally the Green Monsters out of 5.
Tagline: “Boston’s most wanted. And least qualified.”
Better Tagline: “You need some fackin’ therapy.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Crime boss Mr. Besaghi (Michael Stuhlbarg) has a problem: he’s got the perfect plan to steal the bribes flowing in to the (presumably) shoo-in Mayoral re-election party, but not the personnel. Tasked with the staffing issue, his associate Scalvo (Jack Harlow) gets former Marine Rory (Matt Damon) and current alcoholic Cobby (Casey Affleck) to pull of the job. Predictably, things go south(ie) from that point on, to the point of roping in Rory’s poor therapist, Dr. Rivera (Hong Chau).
“Critical” Analysis: The city of Boston has a bit of an outsized presence in the movies. You expect that kind of thing with the likes of New York City or Los Angeles: the former is the largest city in the U.S., and the latter is the home of Hollywood. But Boston? It ranks 25th in the country in population, behind the likes of Oklahoma City and El Paso. And I bet you can’t even name the best movie filmed in El Paso.
Wrong: it’s Lone Wolf McQuade.
Having said that, Beantown is the setting for some all-timers: The Thomas Crown Affair, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, Good Will Hunting and Spotlight, for example. It’s also hosted its share of crime dramas, like Mystic River and The Departed.
Sadly, The Instigators isn’t likely to crack that top layer. though it’s a perfectly acceptable regional entry. The initial planning meeting takes place in Fenway Park, and Damon and Affleck’s local bona fides are well-established. The Charles River (I think) plays a key role, and I’d bet my autographed David Ortiz jersey* that the bar Rory and Cobby hide out in is the same one from Gone Baby Gone.
Affleck isn’t doing anything new here. Cobby is essentially a grown-up Morgan from Good Will Hunting with all the attendant world weariness that implies. Damon is subtler, subverting our expectations based on his previous collaborations with director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity). In short, you keep waiting for Rory to demonstrate competence which never arrives.
Liman keeps the action moving, and draws solid performances out of a veritable Murderer’s Row of character actors. Besides Stuhlbarg (who plays a delightful scumbag), there’s Ron Perlman as the eminently corrupt mayor, Toby Jones as his assistant, and Doc Ock himself (Alfred Molina) as Besaghi’s reluctant right-hand man.
But those are all side attractions when compared to Chau. Therapists in movies like this tend to be of the beleaguered variety (think Alan Arkin in Grosse Point Blank), but Dr. Rivera is truly ride or die for her patient. She even uses her emergency medical skills to further the cause.
The Instigators is a perfectly serviceable couch surf of a movie. The leads are affable, the action is engaging, and the plot is mildly and familiarly amusing. But there’s no new meat on these bones. It’s fun to see Damon play an idiot (even if the “taking notes at a criminal conspiracy” line was ripped off from The Wire), but Chau is the only factor making this even a mild recommend.
The Instigators is streaming on Apple TV+ today.
*I do not actually own a David Ortiz jersey.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
