Review of Mr. Right (2016) by Cj W — 28 Aug 2016

There's nothing outright special about Mr. Right. But a charming turn (as always) from Sam Rockwell and some well-developed chemistry between him and Anna Kendrick make it a solid cable watch.

Mr. Right tells the story of an unhinged and borderline psychopathic former hitman, who romances a recently dumped woman named Martha. The two romantically connect based on pretty much nothing at all, but it works. Kendrick and Rockwell's bond gets increasingly better as scenes go on, as does the quality of the film. It's really difficult to blend the genres of crime and comedy well, especially with an R rating and while it wasn't all great, this film had a lot going for it.

This film deals with a certain amount of supernatural concerning Rockwell's impressive ability to literally dodge bullets. Yes, he literally dodges bullets. It took a while for me to become accepting of such a notion, even in a comedy. I get the tone they were going for, but I was legitimately turned off by the main character's unbelievable abilities. It didn't help that Martha seemed to gain these abilities by Rockwell's character simply moving her hands a certain way for a few minutes. That happened.

With that said, once I adapted to the ridiculousness of the story, I had some fun with the action and the performances of both Kendrick and Rockwell. It's bloody and uncompromising, which is also something that is difficult to depict in a comedy, but Rockwell's happy-go-lucky attitude towards this violence put a satirical and goofy vibe to the gore, which I accepted.

On the other side, I wasn't really a fan of Tim Roth's antagonistic role. I just didn't buy into his extreme hate towards Mr. Right at all. I don't want to say Roth was phoning the role in, because he's world class, but there just wasn't enough there for me to dig my teeth into his character.

The screenplay was written by the always interesting Max Landis, who has a strange sense of humor, and all of that comes out in Rockwell's performance. That combination was perfect, which is why I can accept some of the other mishaps. But I would have liked a villain and a story that built more gravitas and weight to the third act. Especially considering Mr. Right is near invulnerable, so it's tough to ever really care about what's going on. But if you're looking for a fun and uninvolved action comedy, give this one a shot.

+Rockwell kills it as always.

+Landis' strange and quirky script.

+Great music choices.

-Roth.

-Explanation of Mr. Right's gifts would have been helpful.

6.1/10.