NOBODY

In this action comedy Hutch (played by Bob Odenkirk) is on the face of it a real sad sack of a nobody. The state of his marriage to Becca is summed up by the rolled up sheet she has placed as a barrier between them in their bed. His job is a monotonous accounting-type gig with a small business owned by his father-in-law, who doesn’t hold him in high regard.

But guess what? It turns out that back in the day Hutch was a formidable assassin working for the US government, until he tired of it and developed a yen for a conventional marriage and suburban lifestyle.

When a couple of inept burglars tangle with Hutch the worm finally turns, and not before long he is beating up five young punks on a bus, in an enjoyable fist fight that is well choreographed and makes creative use of the available fixtures and fittings.  

Best of all, Hutch doesn’t have it all his own way (after all, it is five against one) and comes out of it with a fair amount of bruising as well as a stab wound.  It suggested that this film might keep one foot at least in some form of reality.

Sadly that is not the case. One of the punks is the brother of a crazy Russian gang leader who wants his revenge, and things escalate very rapidly through a series of increasingly absurd action sequences.

The film was sufficiently a hit to spawn a sequel, and it’s easy to see why. Odenkirk is always watchable, Christopher Lloyd is fun as his dad, and it’s slickly directed and doesn’t outstay its welcome.  It's an undemanding wish-fulfilment fantasy for men of a certain age.

But an action comedy such as this with no stakes or dramatic tension or character development has limited appeal and I increasingly checked out as the bodies piled up.

Connie Nielsen is completely wasted as Hutch's wife, which is a real shame given her fine performances in the two Gladiator films. 

Nothing about their marriage or indeed Hutch’s life at the start of the film made much sense.  Why has he allowed himself to be trapped in such a dead end job that he can’t even afford a car?  Why would she marry such a dead loss?  How much does she know about his past life?  Not a lot it would seem given the way at one point he promises he will tell her everything, just not now.  Yet she doesn’t bat an eyelid when she has to treat his stab wound and clean him up.

Maybe their backstory is gone into in the sequel but I don't expect I will be checking it out.