The Accountant

Ben Affleck will have relished the idea of subverting the image of the mild-mannered pen-pusher, but this film from director Gavin O'Connor ties him up in knots with twists and turns that all add up to not a lot. By day, Affleck wears a pair of Clark Kent-style spectacles and struggles with autism, but implausibly, when he whips those glasses off, he becomes a Bourne-like assassin. He also crunches numbers for international crime rings and attracts the attention of JK Simmons's treasury agent who appoints a rookie (blandly played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to seek him out. Between scenes of her scouring the internet and Affleck doing maths for a corporate client (John Lithgow), the narrative follows a hitman (Jon Bernthal) doing business in the same circles, fails to ignite a romance between Affleck and Anna Kendrick as the accountant who first spots anomalies in Lithgow's books) and includes flashbacks to the antihero's troubled childhood. But O'Connor cannot find balance in a convoluted story that veers wildly between action, conspiracy, romantic comedy and even a bit of Greek tragedy. Simply, the various elements do not compute and instead of stirring your emotions at the end, you're left nonplussed.