Movie Review – Mr. Right

Sam Rockwell is nothing if not quirky. He doesn’t always get to show off this feature but when he does it’s typically an enjoyable outcome. Director Paco Cabezas and writer Max Landis have put together a project in which Rockwell should be able to thrive. Mr. Right is an offbeat action rom-com that follows a hitman named Francis (Rockwell) that has come to despise those that want to have others killed because, well, killing is wrong. So what does Francis do to rectify the situation? He starts killing those that are soliciting such services. Crazy, huh? Francis crosses paths with a girl named Martha (Anna Kendrick) and in that one moment, he decides that he’s all into this girl. Even though this new stranger to Martha seems kinda bizarre, there’s just something about him that makes her heart skip a beat. As their relationship of sorts begins to bloom, Martha finds out that there’s way more to this new love interest than she originally thinks.
Mr. Right takes everything that you’d look for in a romantic comedy and sprinkles it with violence and mayhem. You can throw traditional thoughts as to what a blueprint for a movie is SUPPOSED to be like and just throw them out of the window. Don’t even try to put this into a single genre category. The plus side about a movie like this one distributed by Focus World is that there’s no set path that it has to follow. With bigger movies there’s typically a list of items that are required to be checked off as the movie progresses. Mr. Right throws that away and just seems to flow with the predictiveness of a butterfly in room of oscillating fans. In this helter skelter chaos is a sense of purpose and normality.
Even though the violence and comedy is what will be first noticed while watching Mr. Right. The underlying relationship between Francis and Martha is definitely what makes everything come together and gives it a purpose. At times this movie seems to have dashes of RED (2010) flowing through its veins. People getting shot, stabbed and punched left and right, all while two people find love for one another. In addition to the two acting leads, the supporting cast includes James Ransone (Sinister (2012)), Anson Mount (Hell on Wheels), RZA (em>The Man with the Iron Fists (2012)) and Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs (1992)). There will be plenty of familiar faces as the chaos starts to swirl.
For a comedy, Mr. Right has good deal of action. For an action flick, it has a good deal romance. And for a romantic comedy which is all the rage these days, it has an abundance of action. As you can see here, all parts come together and need each other which helps make for an enjoyable combination. Sam Rockwell last gave a solid performance like this in 2012’s Seven Psychopaths. It’s nice to see him back out there embracing the mentally unbalanced. Without Rockwell’s efforts to propel this feature, it would be a lackluster forgettable mess. There would have been something missing, kind of like a clown that refuses to wear a red ball on his nose to perform. That red ball, as minor as it might seem at first glance, brings everything into focus.
Overall Mr. Right is just okay but there are many aspects that will allow a broad general audience to not come away totally disappointed. Given that there’s zero hype for it, and I’m guessing many readers didn’t even know it existed until reading this review, expectations are what we make them. With that being said, Mr. Right is a fun 90 minutes spent exploring a ridiculous professional relationship and an even more ridiculous personal one. And it is in that ridiculousness that redemption is found. Enjoy the product put in front of you for what it is. The action is solid. The story is passable. The comedy is just right. Check it out exclusively at Cinema Detroit starting April 8.