[yasr_overall_rating]
As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.
In a state of max perplexity, John Lithgow’s character exclaims in Dick Solomon fashion, “What is going on?!?!” Everyone in the theater laughs because the joke is on him if he didn’t see it coming. “The Accountant” is a mess. Who is to blame? I don’t know. My gut tells me the writing is the main culprit. Like John Lithgow, I sat in the theater in a state of perplexity wondering, “what is going on?” It wasn’t for actual lack of knowledge, but rather wondering why am I faced with a jumbled mess of backstory and side plots that could have been cut out and saved me the boredom for another day.
Ben Affleck confuses me. I never know if he’s really trying to act or if he’s just trying to piss everyone off. I’m sure he gets a good laugh out of it. In this episode of Ben Affleck acting, he is Christian Wolff, an autistic man with a gift for numbers and puzzles. He’s got mad skills that I (and probably most) could only dream about having. He’s also got a knack for sussing out financial quandaries for common folk and criminal alike. Killing too, he’s also good at killing. He sounds like a badass on paper but it’s really just Ben Affleck in a suit with a gun, straight face, and pocket protector.
Christian Wolff gets a call letting him know that the Treasury Department is on his trail and that he should take a job that would shake off any suspicions. A financial leak is discovered by the quirky and sweet Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) at a leading robotics company that is partially owned by Lamar Black (John Lithgow). Christian takes on the job but when the CEO, the person thought to be a fault for the leak, is found dead, Lamar Black decides to cut the investigation short which puts Christian in a stressed state as he cannot stand to not finish a task. But it doesn’t matter because now Dana and Christian are on a death list and the new task is save Dana.
You have to remind yourself throughout the film that the ultimate goal, the reason we get to see some awesome kill shots and fight scenes, is to save Dana. It’s a hard goal to focus on when you have to bounce around backstory, presented like a super-hero’s origin story, and the side plot of Ray King (J.K. Simmons) wanting to retire from the Treasury Department, desiring to know who the hell “the accountant” is. Ray King does accomplish his goal with the help of Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) after goading, more like blackmailing her to do so. J.K. Simmons was terrifyingly electric in Damien Chazelle’s “Whiplash.” But here, both he and Cynthia Addai-Robinson are like wet cardboard, and kind of unnecessary. They achieve their goal, but who cares.
The ending of “The Accountant,” is nice and tidy, kind of. I won’t say this film wasn’t enjoyable because on some level it was. I remember laughing. I remember other people laughing. I don’t know if we were laughing for the same reasons, but I think so. “The Accountant” is ridiculous. I would have been happier to watch John Lithgow screaming, “What is going on?” on a continuous loop for 2 hours, pretending to relive the summer my brother forced me to watch “3rd Rock from the Sun,” Clockwork Orange style.
In theaters Friday, October 14th
