Depressed ex-marine Rory (Matt Damon) and alcoholic ex-convict Cobby (Casey Affleck) are thrown together as part of a crew hired to rob the Mayor of Boston (Ron Perlman) on election night. But when things go hopelessly wrong they end up on the run together. 

The Instigators plays out like the sort of bickering buddy comedy that was so popular in the 1980’s. Damon’s Rory is seeing a psychiatrist (Hong Chau) and has suicidal ideations following his wife leaving him and becoming estranged from his son. He says very little and has little joy in his life. Cobby on the other hand is a motormouth but is equally weighed down by the loss of his brother whilst he was in prison. They are thrown together by a criminal enterprise that offers them the money they think they need to resolve issues in their lives. 

A series of increasingly unlikely events bring them into contact with an array of character actors turning in fun cameos. Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stulhbarg, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones and Ving Rhames all have small roles with relatively interesting personalities. 

Overall though the whole affair is just the epitome of average which is a huge shame given the talent involved. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) is in the directors chair, Casey Affleck co-writes the script as well as starring and the list of acting talent already mentioned is phenomenal. However the biggest compliment I can give it is that it has its moments and is not awful. 

Worth a shot if you lower your expectations and want an easy going bickering buddy comedy.