‘Hit Man,’ Earning Raves in Theaters, Premieres on Netflix

Hit Man. (L-R) Glen Powell as Gary Johnson and Adria Arjona as Madison in Hit Man
Glen Powell and Adria Arjona in Netflix film ‘Hit Man.’ (Image credit: Brian Roedel/Netflix)

Movie Hit Man, with Glen Powell as a professor who moonlights as a fake hit man in New Orleans, premieres on Netflix June 7. Richard Linklater directs. 

The film had a limited theatrical release May 24. 

The cast also includes Adria Arjona, Retta and Austin Amelio. 

Netflix says of the movie, “Preternaturally gifted at inhabiting different guises and personalities to catch hapless people hoping to bump off their enemies, Gary descends into morally dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to one of those potential criminals, a beautiful young woman named Madison (Adria Arjona). As Madison falls for one of Gary’s hit man personas — the mysteriously sexy Ron — their steamy affair sets off a chain reaction of play acting, deception, and escalating stakes.”

Linklater and Powell wrote the project, which was inspired by a 2001 article in Texas Monthly by Skip Hollandsworth. 

Hit Man has an R rating. Reviews have been positive. NPR said, “As a fake 'Hit Man,' Glen Powell shows off his real star power.”

The New York Times called the film “one of the year’s funniest, sexiest, most enjoyable movies.”

CNN said Hit Man “shoots and scores (mostly)...”

Linklater’s films include Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and School of Rock. 

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.