A stoner - who is in fact a government agent - is marked as a liability and targeted for extermination. But he's too well-trained and too high for them to handle.
Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Writer: Max Landis
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton
Storyline:
Small-town stoner Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg)
spends most of his time getting high and writing a graphic novel about a
superhero monkey. What Mike doesn't know is that he was trained by the
CIA to be a lethal killing machine. When the agency targets him for
termination, his former handler activates his latent skills, turning the
mild-mannered slacker into a deadly weapon. Now, the utterly surprised
Mike must use his newfound abilities to save himself and his girlfriend
from getting wasted.
Movie Review:
If the new movie
American Ultra was half as clever as it seems to think it is, it would
be a bawdy treat. The design is extremely stylish and even nobly unique,
but underneath those flairs of fun is one of the most identity-confused
films ever, a true mess of genres and tones that never quite finds its
footing. The cool premise and individual moments of fun can't overcome
how poorly executed the final product is. Ultimately, AU is proof that a
mash-up of good scenes without a cohesive center does not a good movie
make. Eisenberg and Stewart play a pot-loving couple who learn that
their lives may be more than they seem as they run into trouble with the
CIA. It's Pineapple Express meets Bourne, but can't decide which one it
more wants to emulate. At both times absurdly funny and oddly sincere,
all the performers seem to be in different movies. On the villain side,
we've got Goggins giving a Joker-like performance as a darkly hilarious,
mentally disturbed madman, while Grace seems to think he's still on a
sitcom, delivering lines with off-putting snark. On the other end,
Stewart and Eisenberg fumble between broad comedy and indie drama with
little clarity or success blending the two. Not that it's devoid of
laughs; it manages some humor when it focuses on the identity crisis of a
slacker-turned-trained-killer. Unfortunately, our hero wasn't the only
one trying to awkwardly discover himself; so was the movie. What
could've been an inventive little comedy ala Scott Pilgrim or Zombieland
is an ultra-mess.
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