Review: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck play half-smart criminals in overfamiliar ‘The Instigators’

Moviegoers and critics often say that what they want more from films is originality. But let’s not dismiss the sturdy pleasures of the reliably familiar. An expert piece of derivative entertainment featuring likable stars and a bit of style is its own kind of achievement, a reminder that talented people through sheer force of will and charisma can make you temporarily set aside your reservations and simply go along for the ride. In a sense, a superb subpar film is similar to pulling off a heist — a minor crime, perhaps, but one that’s better executed than the bungled robbery at the center of “The Instigators,” a shaggy action-comedy almost good enough to forgive its shopworn elements. The characters have trouble getting away clean, and so do the filmmakers.

Set in Boston and starring two actors intimately associated with the city, “The Instigators” (which opens in theaters Friday before arriving on Apple TV+ in a week) is highlighted by the unlikely odd-couple pairing of a former Marine, Rory (Matt Damon), and a career crook, Cobby (Casey Affleck). Rory’s no thief and is basically a decent guy, save for torpedoing his marriage and alienating his teenage son. Cobby, meanwhile, is a sarcastic loner fresh from a stint in the slammer. They meet, rather implausibly, after they sign up for the same high-stakes heist, which requires them to break into the offices of a corrupt mayor (Ron Perlman) the night of his presumed reelection victory, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks while he’s busy celebrating.

The plan seems foolproof — unless, of course, the incumbent doesn’t actually win the election. But, seriously, what are the odds of that? “The Instigators” thrives on such predictable twists. The surprises aren’t what matter. Rather, it’s the way that the movie smoothly navigates from one inevitable plot point and overblown set piece to the next.

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The film could hardly ask for a better director than Doug Liman, who has a penchant for elevating B-material thanks to his visual panache and slightly self-mocking sense of humor. In movies like “Go” and “Edge of Tomorrow,” Liman took catchy but warmed-over premises and supplied them with a playful gusto. As with his “Road House” remake from earlier this year, “The Instigators” goes down easy because of its supreme craftsmanship and laidback charm. (Comparisons to Steven Soderbergh’s far more fleet “Ocean’s Eleven,” in which Damon and Affleck appeared, aren’t just obvious but encouraged.) It actively makes you feel guilty for expecting more from it.

Never smug or cynical while going through the motions, Damon and Affleck,who previously co-starred in a very different picture about male futility, Gus Van Sant’s minimalist stunner “Gerry,” slip into their amusingly one-dimensional roles. Studious to a fault and only wanting the money to make his family whole, Rory insists on taking detailed written notes during the heist planning, the sort of thing discouraged by professional criminals if you want to avoid leaving evidence around. But even though he’s more experienced, Cobby makes plenty of mistakes too, with Affleck (who co-wrote the screenplay with “City on a Hill” creator Chuck Maclean) capably playing a smart-ass who’s not nearly as savvy as he appears. And because “The Instigators” is ultimately a feel-good comedy, we’ll learn that Cobby isn’t quite the hardened criminal we’re initially led to believe he is.

Much has been made of the uninspired, algorithm-driven content that’s being pumped out by streaming services: You take a couple of big names, graft them onto a done-to-death storyline, give the scenes a modicum of flashiness, and most folks at home on their couch will accept it as a passable diversion. Apple TV+’s “The Instigators” is a prime example of such a strategy, but Liman and his cast keep trying to do more than the bare minimum, investing in a story about two failures who for once want to do something right.

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Lately, Damon is at his best in a more relaxed, weathered mode — think of his confident comedic turn in “The Martian” or his verbal jousting with Cillian Murphy in “Oppenheimer” — and in “The Instigators,” he touchingly taps into his character’s middle-aged mediocrity. Suffering from wartime demons, Rory visits a sympathetic shrink, Donna (Hong Chau), who, inexplicably, gets roped into their scheme once the heist goes wrong. Chau is frequently the grounding force in her films, and she provides a similar service in “The Instigators,” even when the script expects her to offer emotional counseling in the middle of amped-up action sequences.

For better or worse, Liman revels in the movie-ness of his popcorn movies, their unwavering devotion to just-having-fun escapism, and he never stops juicing this knockabout comedy, squeezing the pulp for more jokes and odd digressions. (One of the most random moments involves New England Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski, playing himself as a hype man for the duplicitous mayor.) Side characters are gunned down in “The Instigators,” but the vibe is always that of a lark made by pros who didn’t stress out about exerting themselves. Respected character actors such as Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg and Ving Rhames play varying shades of clichéd baddies, each of them seemingly happy to go with the flow. No one embarrasses himself — it’s all polished, pleasant, anonymous and unobjectionable.

But if “The Instigators” isn’t peddling originality, the least it could do is justify its own existence by delivering a delightful bauble that reaffirms our affection for these stars and this milieu. But too many convoluted narrative beats and too many strained attempts to reinvent the crime-comedy formula ultimately reveal what’s so parched about this particular stretch of cinematic landscape. There are laughs and clever bits of business in “The Instigators,” but there’s never a reason to care.