This breezy film is as elusive and changeable as its hero

I first saw Hit Man, the new Richard Linklater film now streaming on Netflix, at an early morning press screening at the London Film Festival. The movie played really well and the audience was into it, but I was still shocked when a late scene drew huge laughs from the audience and an actual applause break at its climax. An applause break! 9:30 in the morning! From film critics! British film critics! (Something you might not know about the British: We don't applaud in movie theaters. Ever.)

Equally surprising: the content of the scene that elicited that response. Given the film's premise – a professor poses as a contract killer to help the police arrest people for soliciting murder, but gets lost in the role – you might guess that audiences were hooting for a Tarantino-esque slapstick carnage. But the scene was actually the most skillfully conceived and delightfully acted piece of pure romantic comedy I've seen in years.

As a filmmaker, Linklater is fluent in genre conventions, but he often finds his own space in the cracks between them. In that sense, Hit Man is true to form. Written by Linklater and its star (and frequent Linklater collaborator, and Top Gun: Maverick heavy) Glen Powell, it's a light-hearted film that doesn't break a sweat as it oscillates between comedy, romance, suspense, philosophical musings and a quiet undertone. of noisy darkness. Beneath a simple, appealing exterior, the film is elusive and prone to shape-shifting – a bit like its main character.