Back to trending
The Instigators

The Instigators

Crime · Comedy · 2024

Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. But when it goes awry, they team up with an unusual accomplice — Rory's therapist — to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss.

Movie details

The Instigators

“Worst. Heist. Ever.”

2024 Crime · Comedy 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. But when it goes awry, they team up with an unusual accomplice — Rory's therapist — to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a vengeful crime boss.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Instigators?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Analyze That

Analyze That

Comedy · 2002

The mafia's Paul Vitti is back in prison and will need some serious counseling when he gets out. Naturally, he returns to his analyst Dr. Ben Sobel for help and finds that Sobel needs some serious help himself as he has inherited the family practice, as well as an excess stock of stress.

Chain of Fools

Chain of Fools

Crime · 2001

An avid detective is assigned to investigate the heist of a batch of precious coins that end up in the hands of a suicidal barber.

Horrible Bosses

Horrible Bosses

Comedy · 2011

For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers... permanently.

Wolfs

Wolfs

Crime · 2024

Hired to cover up a high-profile crime, a fixer soon finds his night spiralling out of control when he's forced to work with an unexpected counterpart.

Stir Crazy

Stir Crazy

Comedy · 1980

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.

Fun with Dick and Jane

Fun with Dick and Jane

Comedy · 1977

When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.

22 Jump Street

22 Jump Street

Crime · 2014

After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don't have to just crack the case - they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.

Pain & Gain

Pain & Gain

Comedy · 2013

Daniel Lugo, manager of the Sun Gym in 1990s Miami, decides that there is only one way to achieve his version of the American dream: extortion. To achieve his goal, he recruits musclemen Paul and Adrian as accomplices. After several failed attempts, they abduct rich businessman Victor Kershaw and convince him to sign over all his assets to them. But when Kershaw makes it out alive, authorities are reluctant to believe his story.

2 Guns

2 Guns

Action · 2013

A DEA agent and an undercover Naval Intelligence officer who have been tasked with investigating one another find they have been set up by the mob -- the very organization the two men believe they have been stealing money from.

Keanu

Keanu

Action · 2016

Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Doug Liman

Written by

Chuck MacLean · Casey Affleck

Matt Damon

Matt Damon

Rory

Casey Affleck

Casey Affleck

Cobby

Ving Rhames

Ving Rhames

Frank Toomey

Jack Harlow

Jack Harlow

Scalvo

Michael Stuhlbarg

Michael Stuhlbarg

Mr. Besegai

Alfred Molina

Alfred Molina

Richie Dechico

Owen Earls

Owen Earls

Charlie Haggerty

Court is in session

Put The Instigators on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“It owes the canon nothing.”

The movie pursues immediacy and audience pleasure without begging institutions to certify its worth.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Easy pleasure, short half-life.”

It moves efficiently through the moment but offers little reason to keep arguing once the credits end.