Writer-director Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) helms this mismatched-buddy comedy about two professional fixers—George Clooney and Brad Pitt—who are individually hired to clean up a mess involving Manhattan District Attorney Margaret (Amy Ryan), who ends up with a dead one-night stand in her hotel room. She calls a number given to her for just such an occasion, unbeknownst to her that the hotel’s mysterious owner, Pam, has called in another fixer for the same job.
Naturally, Margaret’s Man and Pam’s Man (as they’re called in the credits) don’t like each other and don’t want to work together. Cue the acrimony as the two men, who have more in common than they care to admit, make their way through a violence-filled night that forces them to set aside their egos and collaborate.
Clooney and Pitt are as charismatic as usual, but despite this being an action film, its sleepy pacing and genre clichés result in a middling affair. Traded barbs and withering silences only go so far. Add in that both “fixers” are incompetent, and you’re left wondering who this film was made for. If I hadn’t seen it, I’d be OK with that. It’s a bit of a snooze. (108 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Oct 10-20, 2024.
