The Accountant (2016)

The Accountant is an action film that follows a forensic accountant (go figure), who is really good at his work.

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) is a guy who, as a child, was diagnosed as having High Function Autism. He’s very good at his job, so much so that criminal organizations hire him to find where they’re “losing money”, aka finding who’s channeling funds to themselves. He keeps to himself, but his activities have caught the eye of Ray King (J.K. Simmons), who is a director for the U.S. Treasury Department.  he brings on Marybeth (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) to assist him.

Wolff has many identities, and is extremely difficult to track down. He works with an intermediary, who sends him to a tech company that’s discovered a minor financial error. The CEO, Lamar Black (John Lithgow) meets him, and gets the ball rolling.  Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick) is the accountant who found the error, and she tries to explain her thinking to Christian. It’s an awkward meeting, and the two of them get along, as well as could be expected.

It’s a story of intrigue, ripped from the pages of Thrilling Accountancy Adventures Monthly. Seriously, though, they made an effort to try to remain respectful of a person with autism, and to give a sense of proper financial management, but not having experienced either, I can’t decide how faithful either effort was. All I can comment on is that it made sense. The movie didn’t sensationalize autism, which I had expected it would.

We get some glimpses into Christian’s childhood, PLUS, a decently written B-story involving the Treasury Department. Given the subject matter, I’m surprised that someone in Hollywood green-lighted this movie.

It was an acceptable movie, and most everything tied together. I can appreciate the effort that went into making it, but that’s about it. I’ll say that it’s worth a watch, when it is available in your favorite Streaming Service, but don’t bother seeing it in the theater. I say that because I had completely forgotten it two days after I’d seen it, and had to think for a moment to describe the movie.

There is some violent content, so the most squeamish amongst you might want to pass.

 

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