When thinking of an actor who radiates intelligence, only one name comes to mind:
Ben Affleck.
When considering a star epitomizing brute strength and toughness, the answer is clear:
Ben Affleck.
No. Obviously. In many of his better roles, the Oscar winner (“Argo”) suggests the arrogant jock who grew up and started wrestling with his conscience. (Before that, he was just the asshole, like in “Dazed and Confused.”) Somehow, though, “The Accountant,” in which Affleck stars as a mathematical genius on the autism spectrum who covertly works with and kills bad guys, winningly finds a way to make zero plus zero equal two. Curious what Matt Damon thinks of his pal getting his own version of “Good Will Hunting” and a “Bourne” movie at the same time.
As a kid, Christian Wolff struggled with loud noises, bright lights and other sensory issues. As an adult, he’s a Plainfield, Ill.-based accountant played by Affleck (wearing glasses at work to show he’s non-threatening) who, as documented by treasury director Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), is always the easily overlooked guy in pictures of terrorists and cartels. Because King’s retiring in seven months (of course) and can’t do so without knowing the identity of the mysterious man who’s smarter than the smartest and trusted to “uncook the books” for some of the world’s worst, he blackmails new hire Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) into a secret investigation (of course).
Before moving on: Medina’s work is just awful, forcing us to watch her gather information that’s already been identified and gawk at results on computer screens. The film’s DVD release should come with an option to just not see any of that subplot other than Simmons exuding trademark authority and giving life to lines like, “I was old 10 years ago.”
On the surface, it would be easy to mock “The Accountant,” written by a co-writer of the mediocre “The Judge.” Its plot is lumpy. Its pacing is casual. It bites from a lot of movies (from the heights of “The Fugitive” to the disposability of “This Means War”) and casts a too-young Anna Kendrick as a Naperville-raised, University of Chicago-educated accountant who represents the first woman that Christian feels comfortable around. (The problem is the character, not the actress.) Pretty sure the moment she bites her lip after he solves a math problem in his head wasn’t supposed to be funny, but I laughed.
Yet the film, which costars John Lithgow as the leader of the innovative but possibly shady company Living Robotics, doesn’t overplay the romantic element or lean into its goofy, wildly predictable twist as much as it seems like it will. (Director Gavin O’Connor helmed a massively superior movie about brothers, the under-seen “Warrior.”) Affleck also proves reasonably adept at harnessing Christian’s interior life as well as winning a belt vs. knife fight.
The result is the good kind of bad, nonsensical but inoffensive and highly recommendable to your friends’ parents. It feels neither like an informed examination of a person with special needs (Did you see “Adam”?) nor a complex thriller that has figured out its own morality or leads with the necessary breadcrumbs.
Rather, the engaging, occasionally exciting “The Accountant” hits a Saturday-night sweet spot like “Premium Rush,” just more adult and far less energetic. Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey Tambor add sophistication among the mess, and it fits that Christian says he likes incongruity; his story is quiet and over the top, intimate and ridiculous, showcasing people doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and the many ways in which that approach may save or destroy.
B.
