''Mr. Right'' is a 2015 American
romantic action comedy
Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre.
Film
The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...
film directed by
Paco Cabezas
Paco Cabezas (born January 11, 1978) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter, best known for directing ''The Appeared'', ''Rage (2014 film), Rage'' and ''Mr. Right (2015 film), Mr. Right''.
Career
In 2007, Cabezas wrote and directed Spanis ...
, written by
Max Landis, and starring an
ensemble cast featuring
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (19 ...
,
Anna Kendrick,
Tim Roth
Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack".
He made his television debut ...
,
James Ransone,
Anson Mount
Anson Adams Mount IV (born February 25, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Cullen Bohannon in the AMC western drama series '' Hell on Wheels'', as Jim Steele on the NBC series '' Conviction'' (2006), as the Marv ...
,
Michael Eklund
Michael Eklund is a Canadian television and film actor who is known for playing the role of the villain or antihero. His characters are often described as being "creepy".
His roles include a kidnapper who terrorizes characters played by Halle ...
, and
RZA.
The film, which follows an overoptimistic young woman (Kendrick) who discovers that her new boyfriend (Rockwell) is a former professional hitman, was released in the United States on April 8, 2016, by
Focus World.
Plot
Ex-CIA agent and ex-mercenary Francis Munch kills those who try to hire him. On his way from such a kill, a team including Espinoza tries to kill him; his ex-partner and trainer Ed Hopper, reconsiders his involvement immediately beforehand, and remains only to listen and confirm his assessment of the situation.
Martha McKay is asked out by Munch and they are smitten. Munch dodges an assassination attempt by Espinoza, and they spend the night chastely. The next evening, they meet for dinner, where Munch reluctantly kills Espinoza when attacked. Over hot chocolate, he shows Martha his belief that underlying all physical objects lies a current that can be
precognitively anticipated, and both of them have it. Munch throws a kitchen knife high in the air and catches it safely as it falls between them. Martha freaks out until he throws a knife at her, which she catches by the blade without being cut. They then have an intimate night.
"Von" Cartigan is the sole survivor of a prior spree in which Munch killed the Pirrello heroin syndicate, and, as Munch shoots those who hire him, with his partner Johnny Moon tries to set up his brother Richard to be killed. Instead, a middleman is sent who Munch kills in front of Martha, frightening her enough to ask him to give her some space. Richard sends Moon, Von, and 10 other hitmen to Martha's, including a gunman named Steve.
Hopper meets Martha at her apartment, but is subdued by Francis, his former partner. Steve gets Munch with
buckshot
A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub-projectiles called shot, fired thro ...
. From cover, Munch shoots one of Von's hired men dead,
talks another into leaving, and
kneecaps the remainder. Having previously shown Von mercy at the Pirrello job, and, getting ready to kill Von, he's again hit by Steve (whom he respects for his skills) with a bat while Moon grabs Martha. Hopper arrives and shoots the kneecapped men dead, but while his back is turned, Francis escapes.
Richard enlists Von and Johnny to stay and defend their house, defeating their plans to rule the family as sole survivors; in frustration, they abuse Martha in response to her mockery. After kicking her against a wall, she says she will kill them if Munch doesn't, as she now feels "motivated."
Outside, Munch takes Steve by surprise; chatting, Steve tells him how many are inside, and they share
gummy bear
Gummy bears (German: ''Gummibär'') are small, fruit gum candies, similar to a jelly baby in some English-speaking countries. The candy is roughly long and shaped in the form of a bear. The gummy bear is one of many gummies, popular gel ...
s. Munch distracts Von and Richard's bodyguards and shoots them when threatened, but declines to shoot either Von or Richard themselves. In frustration, Von begins
monologuing about his desire to kill his brother. When Munch leaves, both leap for the gun, but Von successfully kills Richard. In another room, Richard's
consigliere
Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel '' The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a ...
Bruce confronts Munch but is disarmed. Bruce mistakenly arms a grenade, and Munch helps him disarm it without them both dying.
Munch rescues and begins to escape with Martha, but is shot with
beanbag ammunition by Hopper. Moon grabs Martha and tells her he puts more dangerous people off their game by killing their weaker loved ones. Her precognitive combat abilities awaken, and she dodges Moon's attacks, then strikes him with his own knife and kills him with a statue. While escaping, she disarms and shoots Von with his own gun.
Hopper and Munch confront each other, Hopper handcuffs himself to Munch, intending to "re-program" Munch into a killer. Munch shoots the handcuffs off. Before Hopper can shoot him in the back, Steve shoots him dead, and is ecstatic to learn of Hopper's $5 million bounty. Munch meets Martha at the entrance, notes her
dilated pupils
Mydriasis is the dilation of the pupil, usually having a non-physiological cause, or sometimes a physiological pupillary response. Non-physiological causes of mydriasis include disease, trauma, or the use of certain types of drugs.
Normally, as ...
, and asks Steve to help him get them to the hospital.
Two months later, two military-style teams are pursuing Munch and Martha as they visit different countries for Martha's
paleological interests; Munch shows a sign to a sniper asking "where's the girl?" as the scene cuts to Martha, who has snuck up to shoot the sniper.
Cast
*
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (19 ...
as Francis Munch
*
Anna Kendrick as Martha McKay
**Gigi Johnson as Young Martha McKay
*
Tim Roth
Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack".
He made his television debut ...
as Hopper / Knox
*
James Ransone as Von Cartigan
*
Anson Mount
Anson Adams Mount IV (born February 25, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Cullen Bohannon in the AMC western drama series '' Hell on Wheels'', as Jim Steele on the NBC series '' Conviction'' (2006), as the Marv ...
as Richard Cartigan
*
Michael Eklund
Michael Eklund is a Canadian television and film actor who is known for playing the role of the villain or antihero. His characters are often described as being "creepy".
His roles include a kidnapper who terrorizes characters played by Halle ...
as Johnny Moon
* Katie Nehra as Sophie
*
RZA as Steve
*
Jaiden Kaine
Jaiden Kaine is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' Killing Lincoln'' and ''The Vampire Diaries
''The Vampire Diaries'' is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, ...
as Bruce
* Douglas M. Griffin as Gus Patrick
*
Luis Da Silva Jr. as Espinoza
* Elena Sanchez as Dison
* Garrett Kruithof as Gage
*
Christopher Matthew Cook as Garrety
* Jonathan Billions as Little Boy Kyle
*
Cooper Dodson as Little Boy Gordon
*
Alec Rayme
Alec Rayme (born December 20, 1978) is an American actor.
Rayme has several film and television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a ...
as Sniper
Production
The project was announced on October 8, 2011, by ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'', that
Paco Cabezas
Paco Cabezas (born January 11, 1978) is a Spanish film director and screenwriter, best known for directing ''The Appeared'', ''Rage (2014 film), Rage'' and ''Mr. Right (2015 film), Mr. Right''.
Career
In 2007, Cabezas wrote and directed Spanis ...
would direct the action-comedy film ''Mr. Right'' scripted by
Max Landis, produced by Circle of Confusion's David Alpert and Lawrence Mattis. On May 5, 2014,
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as '' Lawn Dogs'' (19 ...
and
Anna Kendrick were announced for the lead roles.
Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo would finance the film for Amasia Entertainment and co-produce along with Circle of Confusion's Mattis and Rick Jacobs.
[ On October 6, rapper RZA joined the cast. On October 7, ]Tim Roth
Timothy Simon Roth (born 14 May 1961) is an English actor and producer. He began acting on films and television series in the 1980s. He was among a group of prominent British actors of the era, the " Brit Pack".
He made his television debut ...
joined the film. On October 8, James Ransone joined the film. On October 10, Anson Mount
Anson Adams Mount IV (born February 25, 1973) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Cullen Bohannon in the AMC western drama series '' Hell on Wheels'', as Jim Steele on the NBC series '' Conviction'' (2006), as the Marv ...
, Michael Eklund
Michael Eklund is a Canadian television and film actor who is known for playing the role of the villain or antihero. His characters are often described as being "creepy".
His roles include a kidnapper who terrorizes characters played by Halle ...
and Katie Nehra joined the cast.
Filming
Filming began on October 13, 2014, in , Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, and ran for seven weeks.
Release
In October 2014, Lakeshore Entertainment
Lakeshore Entertainment Group, LLC is an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum (1933–2002). Lakeshore Entertainment is headquart ...
announced its acquiring international distribution rights to the film, while Sierra/Affinity would handle international sales of the film at American Film Market. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's '' Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Na ...
on September 19, as the closing night film.[ Before that, Focus World had acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. The film was released in the U.S. on April 8, 2016.
]
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rating of 44%, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 4.94/10 and the site's consensus: "Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick work well together, but ''Mr. Right'' is too much of a tonal jumble to take advantage of their chemistry". On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
the film has a score of 52 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Richard Roeper of the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'' described the film as "hard-R violent comedy in the tradition of "Grosse Pointe Blank
''Grosse Pointe Blank'' is a 1997 American black comedy action film directed by George Armitage from a screenplay by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink and John Cusack. It stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin and Dan Aykroyd and ...
". He also praised the lead performances, and the strong supporting performances. Kendrick's performance was praised by Alan Scherstuhl of ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...
'', saying it was "a role that Anna Kendrick kills with such flamboyant style it makes all the movie's shootings look even more rote." Andy Webster in his ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' review comments that "Anna Kendrick's star shows no sign of dimming".
Peter Debruge of ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' gave the film a negative review, writing, "Not an especially sustainable work model, professionally speaking (it’s murder on word-of-mouth, for starters), but then, this fixer is ready to make some changes in his own life, maybe even find romance with an on-the-rebound Anna Kendrick—which is where Max Landis’ ultra-cutesy script picks up, asking whether a character like that can find and sustain love ... or else die trying. For about a decade after ''Pulp Fiction
''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...
'', such quirky hit-man comedies were all the rage, though in the post-''Gigli
''Gigli'' ( ) is a 2003 American romantic comedy crime film written and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.
Despite popular media giving attention a ...
'' era, (the eerily similar) ''Mr. Right'' just feels wrong." Katie Walsh of the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' wrote: "It feels at once overwritten and thematically thin, coasting on a cutesy concept before descending into relentless, and therefore meaningless, violence."
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
*
* (rating 2.5/5)
{{Paco Cabezas
2015 films
American romantic action films
American action comedy films
American romantic comedy films
2015 action comedy films
2015 romantic comedy films
Films scored by Aaron Zigman
Films shot in New Orleans
Films with screenplays by Max Landis
Films directed by Paco Cabezas
Films set in New Orleans
2010s English-language films
American vigilante films
Vigilante films
2010s American films