When did we all start taking Ben Affleck seriously? Ten or fifteen years ago, he was universally derided for being a bad actor in bad movies. I actually can’t get through Pearl Harbor in one sitting because he is so horrible to watch in it. It wasn’t until I watched Gone Girl a couple of years ago that I started to change my opinion about him—and when he was the best thing in the otherwise dire Batman v Superman earlier this year, I started to look forward to his next film: The Accountant.
It has possibly the most boring title ever, but the trailers looked pretty good, and after watching the film, if there’s anyone in the production who deserves a medal, it’s the marketing people because in their shoes, I would have absolutely no idea how to cut a trailer for this film.
Firstly, the premise is kind of bizarre: Ben Affleck plays an autistic accountant who helps bad people with their money, and the Feds are keen to catch him. Inevitably, when things don’t go his way, he just so happens to be a world-class marksman and a badass fighter to boot, so he’s kind of like a superhero with Aspergers.
Then we get to the story which is, quite simply, all over the place. There’s a lot of flashbacks and story jumps so the film can withhold information from the audience for literally no reason other than to have “twists”. Some of the scenes dealing with the accountant’s condition, especially in the beginning, are a bit problematic, too. There’s also a couple of unnecessary subplots that don’t add anything to the film, but take up an inexplicable amount of the running time. It makes the film feel incredibly unfocused, almost like it can’t work out what or who it actually wants to be about. It feels at least 15 minutes too long.
The flipside of that is the number of brilliant actors the film manages to squeeze in. Ben Affleck puts in a fantastic performance as the Accountant by playing the part very understatedly, and that’s no easy feat. He’s also surprisingly funny in the part, using the idiosyncrasies of his character’s personality to make an engaging performance out of a character who perplexes those around him.
Anna Kendrick isn’t revelatory, but she’s a welcome addition to the cast, and despite Affleck looking old enough to be her dad, they have good chemistry in their scenes. JK Simmons is, unsurprisingly, absolutely excellent in a supporting role that really pins down the films emotional core, and elsewhere there are a host of solid performances from lots of actors you vaguely recognise, even if you can’t remember from where.
But the direction and storytelling just aren’t up to snuff. Gavin O’Connor can direct his actors toward decent performances, but he displays absolutely no flair for action sequences, and when many important story beats happen during shoot outs and punch-ups, the film really suffers for that.
Ultimately, The Accountant is not a bad movie, but it’s not a good one either. It’s worth catching on TV or Netflix, but it’s not worth rushing out to see. I honestly had fun watching it, and you probably will too, just don’t go in expecting a masterpiece.
