HEADHUNTERS (HODEJEGERNE)

While I enjoy a good summer “popcorn movie” as much as the next guy, the one thing I find they lack most is the ability to surprise audiences. The sexy titles know they already have our movie, so surprising us isn’t on their minds. So in my search for the occasional round of counter-programming, the possibility for the unexpected is the most alluring element.

Occasionally, you find a film that brings “the unexpected” with gusto.

HEADHUNTERS introduces us to Roger (Aksel Hennie), a well-heeled corporate headhunter who outwardly is the epitome of success, but inwardly is living beyond his means. He’s in this situation because he is trying to impress his stunner of a wife, Diana (Synnøve Macody Lund), with an extravagant lifestyle he can’t afford. The fact that all she really wants is children doesn’t seem to matter much to Roger.

To afford his lavish lifestyle, Roger moonlights as an art thief. He’s actually honed his whole operation so well, that he is able to case his jobs through his corporate interactions. In discussions with prospective hires, he’ll casually nudge the topic of conversation over to art, and the next thing you know – he has his next heist all mapped out.

One such prospective hire is Clas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a man Roger first meets at the opening of Diana’s new art gallery. Not only does he seem like the perfect candidate for a job Roger is actively trying to fill with a GPS tech company, but as it turns out, he has a wickedly valuable Rubens painting in his possession. To Roger it all seems almost too good to be true.

Roger wastes no time in going after the masterpiece, which will easily be his highest score yet. Just as he’s about to leave Clas’ flat with the loot, he notices something that tells him that Diana knows Clas better than she’s letting on, and that the two of them are having an affair. Once away with the loot, Roger informs Diana that Clas won’t be getting the tech job – or any high-profile job in town once he’s done spreading the word.

Unfortunately for Roger, this decision has unforeseen consequences. Things start to go awry as he proceeds to try to unload the Rubens, almost as if Clas somehow knows it’s missing. Remind yourself that Clas is top dog at one of the world’s leading GPS companies, and how hard must it be to elude someone with the toys he has at his disposal. Clas isn’t ready to give up on his painting – or the job prospect – as easily as Roger had thought.
HEADHUNTERS changes its spots a few times before the end of its 100 minutes. What starts as a sophisticated heist film soon turns into a farcical chase, before eventually returning to a white-collar drama for its conclusion. It’s actually a little difficult to take the movie as a whole. That beginning is so stylish and smart, making you think you’re about to watch a distant Scandinavian cousin to THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. Every scene has a beautiful airiness to it, and Roger himself seems like a curious cross between Daniel Ocean, Mads Mikelsen, and Christopher Walken…only shorter.

However, just as you think you have a good idea of what you’re in for, the film takes a hard left and becomes more than just a little absurd. As Roger starts to flee, the scenes that play out become more and more absurd – and sometimes rather disturbing. These moments leave you only able to laugh at their ridiculousness, and sometimes even shudder in disgust. At first they might seem out of place, after that sophisticated opening, but the way the film brings you to them so naturally allows you to just go with it.

While I did, in fact, go with it…one of the visuals in the film felt a bit much for me (it involves a dog, and it goes on for what seems like a lifetime). I was able to roll with everything else – grinning to myself as things became farcical – but as this particular kept going I grew more and more uncomfortable. They say there are few taboos left in cinema, and that this is one of them: “They” are quite correct.

HEADHUNTERS works best as a cat-and-mouse game between Hennie and Coster-Waldau, especially since the story’s construct has so much fun deciding which is the cat and which is the mouse from moment to moment. Coster-Waldau has the stone-cold act down cold, as any fan of TV’s “Game of Thrones” will tell you. In this film he uses his natural charms to play a character that is 50% Patrick Bateman and 50% Terminator, and to great aplomb.

The best advice I can give for maximum enjoyment of HEADHUNTERS is “just go with it”. It ultimately knows where it wants to take you, and it’s going to take you there by way of a very scenic route. It might not have been the way you were going to take, but it gets you there nonetheless. Don’t get bogged down by wondering why it just went left instead of right.

Just enjoy the ride.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ out of ★ ★ ★ ★
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