Dark Highways

I think this is a solid little movie that really smokes in the last third when everything suddenly squeezes in on the fake hitman and his girlfriend.

There was some complaining online about how this didn’t get a theatrical release but this does feel like a Netflix movie. It’s a laid back talky without action. It’s also neither a balls to the wall comedy nor pressure cooker thriller.

Instead, it’s a fun character study about a nebbish guy who transforms himself into the kind of man (a hit man) that a beautiful woman really wants.

Director Richard Linklater has made masterpieces like Dazed and Confused and comedies like Bernie and School of Rock.

This one feels more calculated as if the writer and director designed it to show off Powell’s acting chops. Not really surprising when you discover Powell co-wrote it with Linklater.

The movie first has fun with Powell getting to play a host of variations on a hit man and then has fun with Powell discovering that his fake hitman is the perfect boyfriend for the beautiful Maddy (Adria Arjona). The movie isn’t a sex comedy but does have several cute scenes with Powell and Arjona role playing in their relationship and in the bedroom.

I laughed anytime Gary (the nebbish professor and ostensibly the real Powell) referred to his alter ego ‘Ron’ like he is someone else.

There is a level of tension that builds into a finale that mostly worked even if I didn’t buy much of the proceedings. A note at the end of the movie confirms I was right to suspect that a lot of this was Hollywood hokum.

If there is a problem with this movie and with crowning Powell as the next Tom Cruise it’s that Powell has not yet (except for Top Gun Maverick) picked the right roles for him.

I don’t remember Cruise or Robert Redford playing guys who lived alone with their cats or were considered boring by their wives and the people around them.

Powell played a lovelorn dude in Anyone But You. He wasn’t exactly a sad sack but that movie hinged on him still being single 6 months after a brief romantic encounter.

I’m sorry but I just don’t believe that a guy who looks like Glen Powell has trouble with the opposite sex.

If he’s going to do romantic comedies he needs to start leaning into his strengths and play the handsome but shallow guy who finally learns what love means when he screws up with a cute (but not supermodel attractive) girl next door.

Or play a real cad.

Hell, remake Dangerous Liasons (or as you know it Cruel Intentions) with Sweeney as the evil best friend.

Just don’t ask me to believe that Glen Powell lives alone with his cats and has trouble dating. I’m not buying it.