Based roughly on a Texas monthly article about real-life undercover operatives, "The Hitman" stars Glenn Powell as Gary Johnson, a seemingly milquetoast university professor moonlight for the police, posing as a hitman with an undercover sting. His life gets complicated when he falls to Maddy (Adria Arhona), one of his murder suspects. It's a clever, energetic, often sexy comedy with dark edges. Here are five movies that have the vibe to check out after "Hitman".
Linkreiter's previous collaboration with the Texas Monthly Writer Skip Hollandsworth is another refreshing comedy take on a true crime story in the strange South. This comes close to the fact, telling of the unlikely relationship between the undertaker Bernie Tiede (Jack Black) and the eccentric rich widow Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine) in a Texas town.
Black delivers one of his best performances as a sweet but troubled Bernie, who becomes Marjorie's only companion after Marjorie drives away everyone else in life.1 Marjorie eventually demands too much of Bernie to murder her and try to hide his crimes. Linklater captures the quirks of a small town where, despite the frustration of the local district Attorney (Matthew McConaughey), many residents favor the generous and amiable Bernie. Linklater provides just creepy humor that sticks to strange truths.
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Unlike Gary Johnson, Martin Q. Blank (John Cusack) is an actual hitman, but both deal with a similar existential crisis at a turning point in life. For Martin, it is represented by his 10-year high school reunion in his suburban Michigan hometown. He mixes business with pleasure, attending reunions and fending off hostile competitors (Dan Aykroyd) while also working on a job to take federal witnesses.
When Martin reconnects with his ex-girlfriend Debi Newbury (Minnie Driver), he comes back to romance, but multiple people are trying to kill him Cusack and Driver have great chemistry, and director George Armitage has a toning light and fun in the violence. It keeps you on track. "Grosse Pointe Blank" is a loving tribute to such a 10th-generation film that Cusack starred in when he was young.From a refreshing, twisted perspective.
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Robert Downey Jr. In Shane Black's delightful maze-like noir comedy, he plays a thief who is mistaken for an actor and mistaken for a detective. This is a Buddy Cop action movie in which Downey's Harry Lockhart is linked to a private investigator known as Gay Perry (Val Kilmer), who is embroiled in an elaborate conspiracy involving a retired actor and a disputed inheritance. Harry also connects with Harmony (Michelle Monaghan), a former crush who is looking for her sister's killer.
Black often builds a twisted mystery punctuated with funny, self-referential jokes about the nature of the detective film itself. Like Gary Johnson, Harry finds himself balancing multiple identities, and in the end he can find his true self. Downey and Kilmer have great chemistry as mismatched partners, Monaghan films as a charming mix of Damsel in Distress and Femme Fatale
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Encyclopedia What happens when people like Brown and Hardy Boys grow up but can't solve a mystery? Will it be? It stars Adam Brody as a former child prodigy Abe Applebaum, a surprisingly rewarding early 30s Abe, answered by writer-director Evan Morgan's darkly funny thriller, has already been washed away, trying to run a detective agency in a town where no one takes him seriously.
When he is hired by teenager Caroline (Sophie Nellis) to solve his boyfriend's murder, he sees it as a redemption chance, but this incident only leads him to a more disturbing and traumatic experience. Morgan balances some heavy material with the goofy tone of a middle-grade mystery novel, "Kid Detective" uny in two different crime sub-genres
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"Hitman" never fully embraces film noir, but it's a vintage-style movie. And Billy Wilder's classic Noir also features a pair of lovers thrown together by happenstance to launch a scheme to escape forces aligned against them. Things were for insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) as they do for Gary because he starts the movie dying of a gunshot wound before detailing how he got that way.
It all started with a housewife Phyllis Dietrichson persuading him to help her in a conspiracy where he killed her husband and collected insurance money. Of course, the plan is quickly unraveled, and Phyllis's appeal overshadows Walter's judgment. "Double Compensation" is hard-boiled and clear-eyed, with sharp writing and two convincing central performances that make all the miserable decisions convincing.
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