No matter how much heft the Actors Equity team brings to the project on both sides of the camera, there's simply no evading the fact that the movie plays as so inconsequential, so free of meaning and purpose, that it offers nothing to grab onto.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Aug 13, 2024

It should be pulpy fun powered by car chases and zippy repartee, but The Instigators is a dispiriting and predictable drag of a movie.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 12, 2024

Certainly, all the ingredients are here for a fun night in, from the absolutely killer cast to the familiar Damon/Affleck stomping grounds of Boston. But nothing quite clicks in this tale of charming low-life thieves.

| Aug 12, 2024

Liman, Affleck and Damon move with confidence through the blunders and bad luck, settling into a relaxed groove of comic bickering.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 12, 2024

So if the plot of “The Instigators” kind of goes nowhere, its characters give it the feel of a hangout movie with some added shootouts and car chases and a few well-timed explosions. And that, at least, is wicked good.

| Aug 9, 2024

Back in the 1970s, The Instigators would probably have been the second or third best movie coming out on any given week. In 2024, it’s Hollywood’s best movie this month, at least for viewers who don’t marvel at Marvel.

| Aug 9, 2024

Director Doug Liman brings a certain discount Steven Soderbergh energy to the action, but the perennially laidback quality begins to seem like more of a liability than a merit.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 9, 2024

The Instigators pastes bits of plot into a disappointing mess.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 9, 2024

"The Instigators" is presented as a low-stakes comic action thriller, but what begins as a charmingly shabby lark quickly runs out of steam, and the chirp-chirp patter between Damon and Affleck goes limp.

| Original Score: D+ | Aug 9, 2024

The Instigators isn’t that bad, but it’s lazy, low-stakes stuff.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 8, 2024

Lackluster and slow even in its supposedly hi-octane chase sequences, much of the blame lies with director Doug Liman.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 8, 2024

There’s a difference between understated and anaemic.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 8, 2024

The Instigators had the potential to be a fun heist movie except no one seems to be having any actual fun.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 8, 2024

Although “The Instigators” can at times feel like a Coen Brothers movie without the polish, there’s enough charm and energy flowing through Doug Liman’s picture to keep the film humming.

| Aug 8, 2024

“The Instigators” is unremarkable but consistently amusing, and makes you feel like everyone showed up at the set expecting a party.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 7, 2024

It’s 101 minutes of talented people struggling to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and coming up with a Filene’s Basement handbag.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Aug 6, 2024

The whole thing feels flat somewhere, with little blips of comedic inspiration. It's not that it misses more than it hits. It's that it just doesn't take that many shots.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 6, 2024

The Instigators isn’t exactly revolutionary, but is a good time regardless: an easygoing crime caper offering an excellent cast a fun sandpit in which to snipe at each other.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 5, 2024

There are laughs and clever bits of business in “The Instigators,” but there’s never a reason to care.

| Aug 5, 2024

Since heist movies are a dime a dozen, don’t get your hopes up. But thanks to the easy chemistry between Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, there is the kick of an acting job well done.

| Aug 2, 2024