Professional killer Gary Johnson breaks protocol to help a desperate woman trying to flee an abusive husband and finds himself falling for her.
Hit Man is a 2023 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Richard Linklater, who co-wrote the screenplay with Glen Powell. The film stars Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, and Sanjay Rao. It follows an undercover New Orleans police contractor who poses as a reliable hitman as he tries to save a woman in need. The basic premise was based on the true story of a college professor who worked for the Houston police in the late 1980s and 1990s as a fake hitman, as described in a 2001 magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth.
Hit Man premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 5, 2023. It was released in select theaters in the United States on May 24, 2024, before its streaming debut by Netflix on June 7, to critical acclaim.
Gary Johnson is a mild-mannered professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans who also works undercover with the New Orleans Police Department to assist in undercover sting operations. When Jasper, a cop who portrays fake hitmen to solicit murder-for-hire confessions and payments from the suspects, is suspended for police brutality, Gary is unwillingly ushered into the role.
Gary quickly finds himself to be a natural in garnering solicitations, going so far as to research suspects in advance and tailor a unique hit man character for each one. He adopts a confident and charismatic persona of a man named Ron for a discontented married woman named Madison, who is trying to have her abusive husband killed. Gary quickly becomes both sympathetic and attracted to her, ultimately refusing the money and suggesting she use it to restart her life, much to the disappointment of Jasper and Gary's other coworkers, Claudette and Phil. Gary later begins a sexual relationship with Madison without revealing his true identity to her. To keep up appearances of being a hitman, Gary shows her how to use a gun, instructing her to aim for the heart.
One night after clubbing, Gary and Madison have a heated encounter with Ray, Madison's ex-husband, which ends with Gary pulling a gun to back him off. Later that night, the couple encounter Jasper, who is suspicious of them being together. A furious Ray attempts to have Madison killed, unknowingly contacting Gary. Upon recognizing Gary as Madison's boyfriend, Ray rushes out of the sting and proclaims that he will kill her himself. Gary informs Madison and attempts to move her out of her house, but she dismisses his fears, stating that Ray wouldn't have the courage to follow through. Gary is later called into work to discuss Ray's murder, and learns he was shot in the heart with bullets belonging to a gun like Madison's. Gary confronts Madison, and she admits to the murder, prompting Gary to reveal his true identity in a panic. After being kicked out by Madison, Gary returns to the police, who reveal their evidence on her is building after discovering Ray increased his life insurance policy before he died. Jasper, who knows of Gary and Madison's relationship and is jealous that Gary took his job, suggests Gary try to solicit a confession out of her using the Ron persona. Gary arrives at Madison's house with a wire and pretends to interrogate her while giving her acting cues typed in on his phone. Their charade convinces the police that she is innocent, but Jasper later comes to Madison's home, blackmailing her and Gary to pay him Madison's inherited money from Ray's life insurance policy lest he send them both to jail for Ray's murder. Madison drugs Jasper's drink, causing him to pass out, and Gary ties a plastic bag over his head and plans to stage his death as a suicide. The story jumps forward several years later, depicting Gary and Madison now happily married with two children.
