Glen Powell is living a year of vertigo. Not only because of the success of With everyone except youalso because Hollywood has not been shy about promoting his rise to stardom with the most juicy projects, such as the case of Accomplices of deception (Hit Man). Directed by Richard Linklaterthe person responsible for Boyhood either Before dawn, this film puts the actor Twisters either Top Gun: Maverick in the shoes of a hitman, a man who, acquiring various identities, collaborates with the police to arrest those who seek to murder someone under the services of a hitman.
Although marketing may point towards action cinema, the truth is that we are facing a typical romantic comedy, with Powell’s character falling in love with a woman he must arrest for trying to murder her husband. Given the situation, the key to the film lies in the protagonist’s need to live a double life, one as a law enforcement agent immersed in a monotonous routine and the other as a charismatic and heartthrob hitman, which, apart from demonstrating talent Chameleonic actor, he leaves us with such ingenious and hilarious situations that it is difficult not to fall for.
But there is another virtue that elevates Accomplices of deception above the usual Hollywood romantic comedies, the one we find in black humor points that support the relationship between Powell’s role and that of her co-star, played by the Puerto Rican actress Adria Arjona. More specifically, this is in the problematic terrain in which romance advances, delving into the controversial and the politically incorrect with topics that today few would dare to joke about, much less from a twisted perspective camouflaged as romanticism.
And it is that Accomplices to deception presents its female protagonist as a victim of domestic abuse, which makes the romance with the character Powell, who keeps using the situation to take romantic advantage and resorts to deception from a false identity, bordering on the uncomfortable. But, although it sounds unpleasant on paper, the truth is that the effect on screen is completely the opposite. Richard Linklater manages to make it clear that he operates from the realm of fiction, playing with delicate themes but knowing how to establish limits thanks to humor and the cartoonish portrait of the characters, always with the greatest possible respect.
Consequently, we have a film that brims with wit and is perceived as light and very enjoyable entertainment, something that, at first, is difficult to imagine considering the context surrounding the story. Therefore, I believe that, in these times where comedy is so concerned with sticking to what is politically correct, the key to its success lies here, in making a difference in a context in which the industry, especially the cinema of the big studios , nor does it consider crossing moral limits, no matter how much they are creating fantastic fictions.
Taking this cinema beyond ‘Deadpool’
Of course, it is a perspective to which Hollywood is slowly opening up again. During the last decade, in commercial cinema we have only seen it with irreverent characters like Deadpool, which already made it clear that betting on past situations was a first-level line of business. In fact, you only have to look at the stratospheric forecasts for Deadpool and Wolverinewhich even predict a premiere of over 200 million dollars in the United States, to realize that viewers are looking for proposals that get them out of this routine policy of what is correct.
Now other genres, such as the romantic comedy that concerns us here, also open to this path. We verified it last year with do me the favorthe movie with Jennifer Lawrence where the star The Hunger Games It lent itself to a fun plot in which she had a relationship with a young woman much younger than her. Now, Accomplices to deception takes up this perspective, demonstrating that by playing with ingenuity one can make comedy out of even the most unthinkable topic. Seeing the good reception that this film by Glen Powell has had, which since its premiere at the Venice Film Festival last 2023 has not stopped receiving good reviews, it is feasible that the industry will continue betting on this path.
In the end, it is a way to take cinema out of its comfort zone, to offer something refreshing that breaks with all the public’s conventions. These are difficult terrains in which considerable risks are run, but Accomplices to deception well shows that With wit, very measured humor and a plot treated with the most absolute affection and respect, any limit can be broken and obtain outstanding results that lead to great success, as has happened in this case.
This article was written exclusively for Yahoo en Español by Cine 54.
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