Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Chemistry Saves Netflix's 'The Rip'

Joe Carnahan is something of a B-movie legend, a writer and director who specializes in what can best be called high-level schlock. His films are often violent, clever, and entertaining, but rarely, by any critical metric, are they good (with an exception to be made for the very good Narc, which is also one of his more serious-toned entries). His newest film, The Rip (streaming now on Netflix), wants very much to be another Narc, and it comes close. But it has a few too many things working against it, and those tip the scales against the parts that do work.

Let’s dig into what works, starting with the story itself. The Rip is about a jaded crew of Miami cops, including Dane (Matt Damon), JD (Ben Affleck), Mike (Steven Yeun), Numa (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo (Catalina Sandino Moreno). The five of them are reeling from the murder of their captain, Jackie Velez (Lina Esco), and are roped into investigating a tip Dane found about money being stashed in a house in the suburbs. There, they find a sole occupant, Desi (Sasha Calle), and hidden in the walls is way more money than any of them were expecting. It’s a great setup, and Carnahan does well by not starting it out as a shoot-em-up action film. Instead, it’s a brutally slow burn as the cops try to figure out where the money came from and if they can trust each other.

Things are further complicated by Dane’s actions, refusing to call the “rip” in and wanting to manage it among the five of them, all while Desi is desperately trying to get them out. The tension tightens as the night progresses, and eventually the evening explodes into betrayals and gunfire. To its credit, Carnahan is patient with this unraveling, letting his very good cast work out who the good guys and bad guys really are.

It works mostly because of the veteran efforts of Damon and Affleck, who are very good, especially in their scenes together, where their chemistry and camaraderie remain effective. Yeun is a quiet but solid addition to the mix as well, and Calle does a great job as a sort of Greek chorus, creating a running narrative of what she sees and hears for the audience. It’s fun, and at times darkly funny.

Yet it also stumbles, in no small part because Carnahan’s script is a little too patient with its story, often to the point where it feels like it’s dragging purely in service of its leads, giving them as much time as possible to banter and argue. It gets stale after a while, and it’s certainly not helped by its often vapid dialogue, replete with too many statements of the obvious, likely added to throw the audience off the scent. The film’s atmosphere grows tiresome, too, with most of it taking place in a dimly lit house that fails to create the claustrophobic setting it hopes for. Instead, it’s simply gray and boring, further hindered by the hilariously excessive fog that inexplicably rolls in, goes completely unmentioned by the characters, and obscures everything outdoors.

For all of Affleck, Damon, Calle, and Yeun’s good work, the remaining cast is something of a bust, feeling more like caricatures than actual police officers. Moreno and Taylor weirdly overact throughout the film, although no one is guiltier of scenery chewing than the bizarrely miscast Kyle Chandler as a hyperactive DEA agent who feels like a late add-on meant to throw a wrench into the story. Their dialogue is Cop Movie 101, and while some of the cast have the chops to elevate it, others are so overwrought and rote that it turns into a kind of parody that undermines the film’s serious tone. Even worse, when the film does reach its climax, it stumbles hard and becomes downright silly, with men fist-fighting in swamps and firing automatic weapons one-handed out of moving cars.

The Rip is still a fun enough movie, and it’s well suited to a platform like Netflix. If you had spent the time and money on a theatrical experience, you’d likely feel far more disappointed. As it stands, in the quiet of your living room on a night with nothing else to do, it’s a decently entertaining diversion. It has strong tension and buildup, and the moodiness works until it tips into self-parody. It feels like a B-movie that an A-list cast stumbled into, and the film’s disjointed tone reinforces that impression. It’s not good or even particularly memorable, but there are worse ways to pass the time.