THE INSTIGATORS Review: Bungling Criminals in Supposed Comedy

Apt alternate titles include The Incompetents or, frankly, The Idiots.

The Instigators
The film will debut in select theaters Friday, August 2, before streaming globally Friday, August 9, on Apple TV+.

I had high hopes for a bright comedy that were quickly dashed by the film's sense of humor.

The Instigators begins with Rory (Matt Damon) meeting with his kindly psychiatrist, Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau), expressing deep despair about the sad state of his middle-aged, divorced, unemployed life, explaining his need to 'make it right,' and concluding ominously by suggesting that he's prepared to take his own life if things don't work out.

Cut to the same morning. Cobby (Casey Affleck) sticks a breathalyzer into a young neighborhood boy's mouth, so Cobby can start his motorcycle, which he can't do himself since he's already been drinking. (The breathalyzer is the type mandated by a court to discourage DUI offenders from repeating their offense.)

Ha ha ha! Really? Do either of those situations strike you as "funny"? If so, you might find The Instigators to be absolutely hilarious.

At best, the set-up for those two characters played very weakly for me, even as a very dark comedy. The two strangers are brought together by a desperate criminal leader of some sort, Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg), who needs a gang to steal hundreds of thousands in cash from the city of Boston's corrupt Mayor Micelli (Ron Perlman).

Rory, who has never engaged in criminal activity before, is insistent on receiving a certain amount of money for his cut, for reasons he refuses to disclose. Cobby, an ex-con, is insistent on not returning to jail. They are partnered together, solely so they can exchange wisecracks and share in the inevitable bungled crime.

The 'bungled crime comedy' is a time-honored tradition. The original screenplay is credited to Chuck McLean, known for creating TV's City on a Hill, and Casey Affleck, whose writing credits stretch back to the dismal Gerry (2002), co-written with Matt Damon; the dismal I'm Still Here (2010), co-written with Joaquin Phoenix; and the dismal Light of My Life (2019), credited only to himself. The writers endeavor to update the formula to some extent, though it's weighed down by its continued mockery of suicidal feelings and alcoholism.

After the attempted robbery goes awry, Rory and Cobby go on the run together. Rory remains insistent on getting his payday, while Cobby simply wants to get away. They end up circling around Boston, as though in a circle of Hell, as their plans are foiled time and time again, sending them closer to the city in pursuit of their differing goals.

Meanwhile, Mayor Micelli and his faithful lawyer and criminal cohort, Alan Flynn (Toby Jones), struggle to get away with their ill-gotten gains during the Mayor's time in office, while the Mayor sends a menacing shady figure, Frank Toomey (Ving Rhames), to retrieve a valuable item that was stolen in the robbery. Simultaneously, Mr. Besagai and his criminal cohort, Richie Dechicho (Alfred Molina), send their not-so-menacing shady figure, Booch (Paul Walter Hauser), to retrieve whatever was stolen in the robbery.

The characters persistently defy logic and common sense, without ever saying anything clever or funny or insightful. To add to the wearisome experience, Doug Liman directs the movie as though he's driving a truck and shouting out the window at the actors and crew as he passes by, obliterating memories of him directing Matt Damon in The Bourne Identity (2002).

Certainly, Damon and Affleck have good comic chemistry together, and it's easy to imagine that they were cracking each other up on set all the time during filming. When it comes to what's on-screen in The Instigators, however, it's difficult to see the humor; it feels like a daytime nightmare for action-comedy fans.