The classic tale of a heist gone wrong gets a fresh update with The Instigators. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are no strangers to the heist genre, having starred together in the Ocean's trilogy. They're also no strangers to non-heist films, having appeared together in Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, Gerry, Interstellar, and last year's critically acclaimed Oppenheimer. Their on-screen partnership spans decades, and now they're starring in a film written by Affleck and Chuck Maclean. There's a lot to this film that could have made it an entertaining one, but entertainment is probably the last thing you'll find here.

The Instigators is a disappointing film that desperately wants to be fun but doesn’t know how. It never really finds its feet as a heist comedy because it happens too early and we’re mostly watching for the fallout. A premise like this worked exceptionally well in films like Reservoir Dogs , but this film needs to deliver more tension or laughs to make for an experience you’ll want to stick with. Director Doug Liman reunites with Damon after their work on The Bourne Identity . It’s his second film of the year following Road House . While that film was unfairly dumped on streaming when it could have done great theatrically, this is the kind of film that feels insignificant enough to belong on streaming.

The biggest weakness holding The Instigators back is its characters. We’re first introduced to Damon as Rory, a man at a low point in his life who’s contemplating suicide for his therapist. We soon meet Affleck as Cobby, and they go on a heist with Scalvo (Jack Harlow). The setup for the heist isn’t particularly interesting, but the setup for the characters is worse. We know Rory needs money for his son, but we don’t get to see him or care about their relationship.

Rory’s characterization is worse. We get a moment later in the film where Dr. Donna Rivera (Hong Chau) tells him that he tends to talk when he wants to avoid his problems. That’s about all we get from him. We don’t learn enough about why he is the way he is, which makes him uninteresting to watch. Damon and Affleck are two talented, Oscar-winning actors who have worked together for many years, so in theory that should be enough to win us over, right?