MOVIE REVIEW: The Accountant fails to add up

ACCOUNTANTS get a bad wrap. Often portrayed as not very exciting, sometimes boring, they don’t at first glance seem like an interesting subject for a movie. But Ben Affleck, as a lethal number cruncher with a point to prove and an equation to solve, might just hold some promise.  

Christian Wolff (Affleck) is a maths genius with more affinity for fractions than people. Behind the cover of a smalltown CPA office, he works as a freelance accountant for some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organisations. 

With the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division, run by Ray King (JK Simmons), starting to close in, Christian takes on a legitimate client: a state-of-the-art robotics company where an accounting clerk (Anna Kendrick) has discovered a discrepancy involving millions of dollars.

But as Christian un-cooks the books and gets closer to the truth, it’s the body count, rather than the profits, that starts to rise.

The initial premise of the film is a little hard to take. Not that an accountant would be working for the criminal underworld, but rather that he would also possess the sort of hitman skills usually reserved for the likes of Jason Bourne. 

That particular plot hole is covered in flashbacks where we see Affleck and his brother as kids, being trained by their father in combat skills. 

It’s perhaps believable to imagine that a parent would be concerned enough for his children, especially if one of them is autistic (as Affleck’s character is), for him to teach them how to fight and survive in the world. But it does prove a constant niggle throughout as you grapple with the main character’s credibility.  

The best and funniest parts of the film are Affleck’s awkward interactions with fellow accountant, Dana Cummings (played by Kendrick). 

But it’s the movie’s cheesy ending that you see coming a mile off which proves the most unsettling. This is one franchise formula that may not catch on. We score it an average 2.5 out of 5 stars. 

Other releases: 

The Light Between Oceans 

– 3 Stars

A Street Cat Named Bob 

– 3.5 Stars

Paul O’Rourke