Mr. Right (2015 film)

Mr. Right
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paco Cabezas
Written by	Max Landis
Produced by	Bradley Gallo Michael A. Helfant Rick Jacobs Lawrence Mattis
Starring	Sam Rockwell Anna Kendrick Tim Roth James Ransone Anson Mount Michael Eklund RZA
Cinematography	Daniel Aranyó
Edited by	Tom Wilson
Music by	Aaron Zigman
Production companies	Amasia Entertainment Circle of Confusion
Distributed by	Focus World
Release dates	September 19, 2015 (2015-09-19) (TIFF) April 8, 2016 (2016-04-08) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$209,215

Mr. Right is a 2015 American action-comedy romance film directed by Paco Cabezas and written by Max Landis. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Anna Kendrick, Tim Roth, James Ransone, Anson Mount, Michael Eklund and RZA. The film was released on April 8, 2016, by Focus World.

Plot

Martha (Anna Kendrick) is an extremely eccentric but kind-spirited woman who jettisons her boyfriend after he tactlessly brings another female into their love nest and then brazenly suggests a threesome. Elsewhere, Francis (Sam Rockwell) is dance-walking through a hotel and knocks on a door. A woman answers and Francis explains that he is the hit-man she hired to kill her law partner so she would own the firm outright, Francis puts on a red clown nose and tells her murder is wrong and shoots her dead. At the same time a professional hit squad are preparing to trap Francis in the hotel. Upon witnessing child-like banter and carelessness from the squad, Hopper (Tim Roth) (a chameleon hit-man and Francis' old partner) stays in the surveillance van as he knows that Francis will easily handle the unprofessional, professional hit squad. Hopper listens to the squad be killed one by one as the audience sees the skill and anticipation of Francis. After the incident, Hopper takes a phone call from his bosses who inform him to use a new identity as an FBI agent and have arranged for him to partner with a local New Orleans police detective with directive to capture Francis.

The following day, Martha spends the morning at a pet store where her roommate works. Martha, being quirky, wears a cat ear headband while at the pet store. On the way home from the store, Martha stops at a convenience market. Francis, also in the market notices her quirkiness and is immediately drawn to her aura. After some witty banter, he asks her out on a date and they spend the next 10 hours walking and talking. Francis is very open with Martha but she assumes his tales are embellishments and not actually events. As they stroll through the zoo, Francis "feels" a hit-man's glare and dances with Martha while evading the bullet streaming past them shot by the hit-man. They end up spending all night in bed just talking and cuddling.

The next morning, Francis wakes up and leaves Martha a note on her pillow she reads when she wakes to continue their date again that night. Martha is smitten and makes breakfast for her roommate who is skeptical of Francis. Later that night at a bar, Francis meets with Martha to continue their date night. While they are talking over drinks, Francis notices one of the hit-men from the squad he left alive who is there to kill him. Francis politely excuses himself from the table and walks outside; the hit-man follows him to the alley. They "dance" and Francis kills him. He returns to the table and explains to Martha he just had to kill a guy in the alley; she again thinks he must be joking.

At the same time, brothers from a mob family are hiding out in New Orleans. The younger brother has ambition, but lacks brains and skill; he convinces a local thug to join him in hiring the "hit-man with a clown nose," who now has a reputation for killing the people who hire him. Thus, his plan is to hire the hit-man for his brother, who would be killed by Francis, so the younger brother could take charge of the family.

Francis takes Martha with him to the initial meeting for the hit-man job, but she stays in the car watching as Francis puts on a clown nose and kills the man who tried to hire him. Martha, now realizing Francis (whose name she doesn't even know yet) has actually not been lying to him about his past, is freaked out by everything that's happened. Francis comes back to the car and she asks him to take her home. They drive back to her apartment and a stunned Martha walks away in silence. Unbeknownst to Francis, they are followed back to Martha's apartment by the thug, who then gives Martha's address to the mob brothers who want revenge for killing their man at the meeting.

Later that day, Hopper (posing as an FBI agent) and the real police detective interview Martha and explain that Francis is a hit-man with a conscious who is very dangerous. At this time, Martha realizes that Francis has always told her the truth and she is coming to grips with the fact that she is falling for a man she now knows to be a hit-man. Francis, despondent, decides to come over to Martha's apartment to discuss the day's events. Hopper believes Francis will show up sits and waits for him. Francis tricks Hopper, stuns him unconscious and drags him into Martha's apartment, where he tells Martha and her roommate that Hopper is not an FBI agent, he is a bad guy. Martha doesn't know what to believe and then remembers that Francis has always told her the truth. She decides to go with him. As they leave, the mob family's hit-squad arrives and surprises Francis. One member of the hit-squad, a local guy names Steve, gets the jump on Francis during the ensuing fight and Francis is impressed. They both show admiration toward each other. As Francis takes care of the hit-squad he is again surprised by Steve's skill and is disarmed. The mobsters take Martha and provide an address where Francis can find them. As they make their escape, Francis is knocked down by Hopper. Hopper and Francis discuss how they ended up where they are; when the police detective who was working with Hopper (whom he believed to be FBI) arrives, Hopper shoots him dead. Francis uses that distraction to escape.

Francis arrives at the mobsters' house and kills the mobsters one by one. Martha, who has noticed she has the same ability as Francis to react to danger, uses that skill to evade the thug assigned to kill her, whom she kills. She meets up with Francis and they again run into Hopper, who is about to shoot Francis but is then killed by Steve. As Martha and Francis leave, Francis explains to Steve that Hopper, whom he killed, has a $5 Million bounty on his head, dead or alive. Steve celebrates as Francis and Martha leave together.

Cast

• Sam Rockwell as Mr. Right/Francis
• Anna Kendrick as Martha
• Tim Roth as Hopper
• RZA as Shotgun Steve
• James Ransone as Von Cartigan
• Anson Mount as Richard Cartigan
• Michael Eklund as Johnny Moon
• Katie Nehra as Sophie
• Alec Rayme as Sniper

Production

The project was first announced on October 8, 2011 by Variety, that Paco Cabezas would direct the action-comedy film Mr. Right scripted by Max Landis, produced by Circle of Confusion's David Alpert and Lawrence Mattis. On May 5, 2014, Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick were added to the film to star for the lead roles. Michael Helfant and Bradley Gallo would finance the film for Amasia Entertainment and co-produce along with Circle of Confusion's Mattis and Rick Jacobs. On October 6, rapper Rza joined the film's cast to play Shotgun Steve, a marksman of a rival gangster. On October 7, Tim Roth joined the film to play Hopper, Rockwell's character's former mentor turned nemesis. On October 8, James Ransone joined the film. On October 10, Anson Mount, Michael Eklund and Katie Nehra joined the cast, Mount would play Richard Cartigan, a member of a New Jersey crime family, Eklund would play the tattooed thug Johnny Howl, and Nehra would play the bookish roommate to Kendrick's Martha.

Filming

The filming began on October 13, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana, where it was shot for seven weeks.

Release

In October 2014, Lakeshore Entertainment announced to acquire the international rights to the film, while Sierra/Affinity would handle international sales of the film at American Film Market. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 19, as the closing night film. Prior to, Focus World acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. The film was released on April 8, 2016.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 37%, based on 38 reviews, with an average rating of 4.6/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 51 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter Dubruge of Variety gave the film a negative review, writing, "Not an especially sustainable work model, professionally speaking (it’s murder on word-of-mouth, for starters), but then, this fixer is ready to make some changes in his own life, maybe even find romance with an on-the-rebound Anna Kendrick — which is where Max Landis’ ultra-cutesy script picks up, asking whether a character like that can find and sustain love … or else die trying. For about a decade after Pulp Fiction, such quirky hit-man comedies were all the rage, though in the post-Gigli era, (the eerily similar) Mr. Right just feels wrong."

Anna Kendrick's performance was praised by Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice, saying it was "a role that Anna Kendrick kills with such flamboyant style it makes all the movie's shootings look even more rote." Andy Webster in his New York Times review comments that "Anna Kendrick's star shows no sign of dimming".

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipients	Result
Teen Choice Awards	Choice Movie – Comedy		Pending
	Choice Movie Actress: Comedy	Anna Kendrick	Pending

External links

• Mr. Right at IMDb