Doesn’t Quite Add Up, by Bob Connally

There’s something frustrating about a film that can’t quite decide what it wants to be. That isn’t to say that I did not enjoy Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant, but it would have done better to either commit to being a well-made, engrossing popcorn movie or a thoughtful character study about an autistic professional killer. Instead, The Accountant attempts to be both, the result being a pretty good – though decidedly flawed – movie that could have been great had the filmmakers chosen one path and fully committed to it.

As a small-town CPA, Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) helps his clients find tax breaks through his mathematical brilliance and a desire to connect with people. As he explains, connection is something that is difficult for him. Raised by an emotionally cold single father, Christian learned to defend himself at a young age, which we see in several flashbacks. When he is hired by the head of a robotics corporation (John Lithgow) to investigate a discrepancy in the company’s books, Christian finds that his other – as a Liam Neeson character might put it – “particular set of skills” will be needed to protect not only himself but the young woman (Anna Kendrick) who discovered the wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the determined head of the Treasury Department (J.K. Simmons) closes in on Wolff after years on his trail.

Written by Bill Dubuque (The Judge) and directed by Gavin O’Connor (, Warrior, Miracle, and the pilot of the current TV masterpiece The Americans), The Accountant is entertaining but confused at times. Christian’s natural way of looking at the world and reacting to it are due to his autism, something that the film plays for laughs on a number of occasions. Not in an ugly or offensive way (at least not blatantly), but in a way that seems to suggest that Christian has a dry sense of humor. These moments often feel out of place in the moment too, which highlight the film’s somewhat awkward attempt to be two things at once.

The performances from Affleck, Kendrick, and Simmons are all solid, as one would expect. The early scenes between Affleck and Kendrick are particularly good, with the movie doing a fine job of showing just why Kendrick’s Dana Cummings would keep engaging with Christian despite his seeming disinterest in even talking to her. Oftentimes we will see a female character reaching out to the male lead just because the plot needs her to; The Accountant actually goes to the trouble of motivating it.

This is an entertaining enough movie, though it wants to be deeper and more clever than it is and it goes for one twist too many, with the final one feeling needless and being telegraphed far too early. Despite its missteps, I can still recommend The Accountant because there is quite a bit to like here. There was the potential for something great though, leaving one with the feeling that something was left on the table.