Awards Columnist/Chief Film Critic
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck Take the BFF Test | The Instigators
Like Doug Liman’s recent Amazon remake of Road House , his latest streaming effort The Instigators plainly misses its calling. Both films should have gotten wide theatrical release before hitting the service. They’re the kind of movies that are fun to watch with an audience.
Still, aside from a nominal week in limited release, The Instigators will hit Apple TV+’s home audience on August 9. Still, I have to say, Apple has produced a few streaming attractions that stand out, and this is yet another example. With an A-list cast led by Matt Damon (who also serves as a producer with partner Ben Affleck) and Casey Affleck (who co-wrote the script with Chuck MacLean), this is pure, often hilariously funny summer entertainment, a perfect mix of genres from action to comedy to crime, with not a minute to be taken seriously.
Set in Boston, this film is really about the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight, a hapless group of characters who get caught up in a botched robbery that spirals out of control. Affleck plays the loudmouthed Cobby, a failed criminal looking for a change of fortune who teams up with his polar opposite, Rory (Damon), a straight-talking veteran with an ex-wife and a son to support. Things aren’t going well, so for the first time in his life, he—along with Cobby, who’s just out of prison—finds himself engaged in a criminal enterprise.
