Summer nights and rainy weekend days are times for enjoying a good comedy. The program might be feature films, TV shows of the past 75 years, a slapstick silent with Buster Keaton, or a cartoon-filled night. With all the streaming and discs available, the opportunities for enjoying the comedy genre are almost endless.
One recommendation is Hit Man, a new feature length comedy from Richard Linklater, one of the most talented of the indie filmmakers to arise in the early 1990s. He is a native of Texas and the man who made previously caused more than a few artists from the NYC and Los Angeles independent film scenes to look towards Austin, TX for inspiration.
Since his film Slacker from 1990 and Dazed and Confused from 1993, Linklater has been cinematically sketching oddball personalities. The characters often are outsiders who are grappling with social acceptance. His best characters show us their quirks. School of Rock from 2003 with Jack Black, is one of his most well-received productions.
Hit Man recently became available on Netflix. The story follows Gary Johnson, a thirty-something philosophy and psychology professor who becomes a fake hit man… fake meaning that he poses as a hit man, while wearing a wire for the police, to expose criminals who approach and pay him to kill their chosen victim.
Hit Man stars Glen Powell who really nails the role. He plays a nerdy but appealing professor, and he also plays a tougher, more charming guy. He is engaging and funny in both roles. As the professor, he tells his students that there are different ways of living life. There is the character that you are. There also is the character that you can construct for yourself. The film shows how both manners of living can play out.
As the professor, Gary says that he drives a Honda Civic to tell the world that he doesn’t exist. By the film’s end, one might imagine he traded that Civic in for a Jeep Rubicon.
Hit Man is based on the true story of a man named Gary Johnson who died just before the Linklater film went into production. Johnson worked for the Houston police in the same way that the Gary Johnson of Hit Man operates. It’s hard to believe such a bio could be true. But, after seeing this film, I believe it.
The film holds a generous number of laughs, and there is the added feature of romance. In this role, Gary is transformed from a chino-wearing, button-down-collar academic to a jeans-clad, black Levis denim shirt kinda guy.
Powell’s credits are quite diverse. He played John Glenn in the award-winning Hidden Figures and came to many viewers’ attention as Chad Radwell in the slasher /dark comedy series Scream Queens.
His love interest is played by Adria Arjona whose TV work includes such series as Person of Interest, True Detective, and Good Omens.
Richard Linklater is the right filmmaker for this project because he balances human nature against institutions for societal insiders and those who are disaffected. Gary Johnson functions well within society throughout Hit Man. However, when he breaks out of the acceptable order, he really comes to life! That’s what gives Hit Man its kick.
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and retired appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and co-authored several entertainment biographies with her late husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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