On Screen: Mr. Right

I’m going to be doing some movie discussions, since romance movies (specifically rom coms) were my first love. Why am I starting with something I would decribe as a B- movie (at best)? Because when I told my husband I wanted to watch a rom com, he said he wanted to watch the one with the hitman. And he thought it was called The Holidate. Because it makes total sense for a movie about a hitman to be called The Holidate. (Also apologies to both Anna Kendrick and Emma Roberts – apparently you are the same person in his mind).

I digress. So, he wanted to watch The Holidate (which btw is actually called Mr. Right), I remembered it was funny and said sure. I should probably go ahead and say I am incredibly easily entertained. Yes there are plenty of things I don’t like, but also I will watch just about anything. Which is why it is a little surprising I am not a fan of Hallmark movies, but that is a discussion for another day perhaps.

There is a really good chance you haven’t seen Mr. Right, unless you are randomly scrolling through Netflix. It came out in 2015, and I have absolutely no recollection of it. It stars Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell. He is a hitman but sort of in reverse – he kills the people who hire him to kill other people. Weird right? Because killing is wrong according to him even though he kills. And he wears a red clown nose while doing it. And Anna Kendrick … she’s just a mess with a history of bad taste in med. I’m not even sure what her job is supposed to be. If it is mentioned, I missed it but it also wouldn’t surprise me if she just didn’t have one. But she catches her boyfriend cheating on her and that’s how we meet her. Then she goes on a drinking bender and moves into her closet.

It is part rom com, part crazy hitman movie where everyone is trying to kill Sam Rockwell (whose name is Francis but he hates his name and you don’t even know his name for half the movie). They are both delightfully unhinged. She wears cat ears in some of it and drinks and hides in her closet. She’s also not too bothered with the fact that she doesn’t know his name. He dances while he kills people. Throws knives at her on a date and expects her to catch him. He also tells her repeatedly that he’s a hitman / has gone to the parking lot of a restaurant to kill someone, but she thinks it is all a joke.

There are some absolutely hilarious lines and scenes. When Martha (AK) realizes that Francis is actually a killer like he said, the shock that she’s completely horrified is so funny. I laughed out loud at several parts and so did Charlie.

My husband said it reminded him of an updated Gross Point Blank (a movie that will definitely be discussed in the future). And I don’t disagree with that in some ways. It’s much sillier and unhinged (that’s really the best way I can describe it). I’m not going to say it is a great movie, but I’m also not going to say it is bad. I personally don’t think it is. Did it get panned? More than likely. Do I care? Definitely not. I love Anna Kendrick and I thought she did a great job of playing that line of “Is she playing with a full deck?” And Sam Rockwell does too. And I actually really love the knife throwing scene, strange as it is.

Also, Anna should be in more rom coms.

So, is Mr. Right a good movie? I don’t know. Did both my husband and I enjoy it? Yes. Is it weird and funny? Yes. Should you watch it? I don’t know. Who am I to tell you what to do. But also … I think so. (Please remember I did not promise it would be an excellent movie but I do think it is enjoyable). If you like super quirky movies with good banter, give it a try. It’s on Netflix.