Hit Man

Writer/director Richard Linklater gets the laughs and romance right on target with this enjoyable caper. Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) co-scribes and stars as bland, cat-loving philosophy professor Gary Thompson, who spices things up by taking a side-gig as a fake contract killer, to aid the police in entrapment operations. But Gary's double life gets thrown for a loop when, in character as his super-cool alter ego "Ron", he meets the alluring Madison (Adria Arjona), who wants him to kill her unpleasant ex. Linklater and Powell (who previously made an impression in the director's Everybody Wants Some!!) play the various jobs for absurdist laughs, as Gary takes on a different killer look and persona for each occasion, based on his marks' profiles and assumptions. Meanwhile, thanks to the chemistry of the two leads, the romantic side plot has real sizzle - even as events escalate to the point of farce. Sexy and snappy, Hit Man packs plenty of heat.