Roughly two-thirds of The Accountant is truly fantastic. The first hour and the last 20 minutes or so are funny, high-octane, well paced, and clever—it’s entertaining and competently put together, anchored by solid performances from solid performers.
It’s too bad, then, that those sections sandwich an entirely unpalatable exposition dump that fills in the backstory of characters no one really cares about and who are largely uninteresting. What could’ve been a great, fun, no-frills high-concept action flick is instead something far more mediocre and frustrating.
Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a CPA on the spectrum. He’s brusque and uninterested in exchanging pleasantries, but will help you find that tax loophole you need to keep the farm—or help mobsters and cartels and terrorists find out who’s pilfering their cash and how to stop them.
On his trail are Ray King (J.K. Simmons) and Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). King’s a director in the Treasury Department looking to retire; she’s an analyst with a childhood record that could get her in hot water if Ray blows the whistle. Also in the mix is Brax (Jon Bernthal), a killer with a conscience who goes about settling scores for companies beset by corporate raiders.
We learn of Wolff’s autism in flashbacks, seeing him put together puzzles at breakneck speeds and flipping out when he can’t handle stress. His father (Robert C. Treveiler) is tough, an army man, one who keeps him out of a special home for neuroatypicals and instead trains Christian and his young brother (Jake Presley) in martial arts and weapons use in order to ensure no one will ever take advantage of them.
Wolff, directed to his high-scale black-market clients by a mysterious woman calling from an unlisted number, is trying to do some corporate work for a change. He’s investigating the books of a bionics company run by Lamar Black (John Lithgow) that is missing millions. The disappearing dollars were first found by Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), a low level accountant whose life is now in danger as Brax and his team start taking out those who either stole the cash or had some knowledge of it.
The Accountant is pleasingly funny, Wolff’s awkwardness leading him into amusing interactions with Dana and others. Affleck is, in his own strange way, perfectly cast. I’ve always found "Charming Affleck" to be vaguely unbelievable, like an actor peering over the cliff of the uncanny valley. He’s much better suited for roles in which he plays a bit of a brute, and Christian’s autism renders Affleck’s struggles to appear more lifelike believable.
Kendrick is charming as always—awkward smiles and smoky eyes. And the humorous brutishness Bernthal brings to his role is always welcome.
Virtually everything with the Treasury Department folks could have been dropped from the movie, however. The Accountant, like Warrior and Miracle before it, is another picture from director Gavin O’Connor about abusive fathers and father figures molding their progeny into extraordinary beings—indeed, it’s almost the reductio ad absurdum of this idea. And we get more than enough of that via Christian’s own story. The addition of King and Medina, and the at-length discussion of their own backstories and motivations, is simply unnecessary. Indeed, it’s actively annoying. The film comes to a screeching halt pretty much every time they appear.
The Accountant is entertaining and worth your time if you’re just looking for something to watch—but don’t be surprised if you experience a bit of frustration over what could’ve been as you exit the theater.