‘The Instigators’: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck Run a Heist With Few Payoffs

Alci Rengifo

There needs to be a certain joy to making throwaway action movies. Doug Liman as a director should know this by now, since his career is a long line of cheerfully goofy comedies and action flicks. His latest, “The Instigators,” should be more fun than the end result. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are thrown into a cliché heist yarn where slapped together plans for a crime don’t go as planned. The aim here should have been to make good, dry comedy. Damon and Affleck have eternally somber faces, sometimes punctuated by a smile (or half-smile in Affleck’s case). The humor should be edgy, dark or satirical. Liman seems to have left the pilot’s seat to let the movie run on autopilot mode.

Damon is Rory and Affleck plays Cobby, two Boston losers who see a chance to score big in a heist organized by local crime boss Mr. Besegai (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his right hand, Richie (Alfred Molina). The target of the heist is thug Mayor Micceli (Ron Perlman), currently trapped in a tight race with challenger Mark Choi (Ronnie Cho). On election night, Micceli is hosting a party where wealthy patrons will arrive and deposit bribe money in cash. Rory and Cobby are meant to go into the campaign offices, take the cash amid the partying and drive off. Nothing goes as planned, of course, because Choi ends up winning, the thieves get into a scuffle with Micceli and his people, and there’s no cash to be found. All they leave with is a chain belonging to the mayor holding the combination for a very important safe. 

The screenplay by Affleck and Chuck MacLean continues as a by-the-numbers movie that has surprisingly little liveliness. Liman knows how to make popcorn distractions with “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and the “Road House” remake in his credits. Good actors are brought in to play some breezy clichés. Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau) is Rory’s therapist who suddenly turns into his hostage when helping Cobby deal with a gunshot wound. Chau brings a funny, deadpan style to her dialogue, still seeking to help Rory as they evade pursuers. Toby Jones is another nervous wreck as the corrupt mayor’s lawyer, scheming and shaking when someone aims a gun his way. Paul Walter Hauser plays another trademark buffoon, Booch, one of those mafia goons who are too stupid for the job.

“The Instigators” is simply too low energy for what the material demands. It pulls off one or two gags, like a great moment where the failed robbers wonder if a guard might be hiding in the back of a hijacked armored truck. Yet, for most of its run time, we’re not sure why we should care for the stakes. It’s one of those movies where the attention span gets tested by the pacing. Doze off and you’ll forget why Rory needs a specific amount of cash from the heist. Liman throws in some needle drops like the Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion” and Petula Clark’s “Downtown” to keep us awake, even if they are way too on the nose. The movie doesn’t even know what to do with hints that Cobby and Donna are starting to like each other. Nothing sizzles or fizzles. 

This is an Apple production and has that familiar tone some streaming films have where you sense the studio doesn’t care who watches until the end. You can leave it playing in the background, but will you notice when it moves on to whatever’s next in the queue? With “Road House,” at least Liman seemed to be having genuine, oddball fun making self-conscious, trashy entertainment. “The Instigators” never lets loose. Maybe the stars thought they were too good to really go full camp. They should have, especially in a movie where whatever is in the mayor’s safe serves as little payoff.

“The Instigators” begins streaming Aug. 9 on Apple TV+.