WRITER Bill Dubuque has given director Gavin O’Connor admirable material for this intelligent crime actioner.

Don’t waste time researching the autism spectrum for explanation of the obsessive behaviour of Christopher Wolff (Ben Affleck giving a rock-solid performance) whose memory and mathematical skills have, in adulthood, made him a total whizz at multiple-value sums and just the man to explain why the financial performance of the robotics company built by Lamar Black (John Lithgow) has in recent years gone against the established pattern.

The US Treasury Department, a rather pro-active agency, also interested by what’s going on in the company and why, has assigned the task to soon-to-retire senior agent Ray King (the insufficiently-praised J.K. Simmons) to find out who’s squirrelling away big lumps of company money.

We know it’s Christopher, who has survived a childhood marred by other kids picking on him for his unconventional obsessive behaviour. As an adult, he’s acquired the skills necessary for surviving in prison, learned to defend himself effectively (including becoming very, very expert with small arms up to about 50-calibre) and made best buddies with an older man (a nice performance from Jeffrey Tambor) who has briefed him about working for the mob and where ill-gotten loot is stashed.

Anna Kendrick as the assistant assigned by Lamar to help Christopher dig out the records and Cynthia Addai-Robinson as the treasury staffer who’s performing similar tasks for agent King add flavour to the dramatic mix in a film that needs no major brain exercise to deliver agreeable escapism.

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