- A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services.
- Gary Johnson is the most sought-after professional killer in New Orleans. To his clients, he is like something out of a movie: the mysterious gun for hire. But if you pay him to rub out a cheating spouse or an abusive boss, you'd better watch out - he works for the cops. After he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman trying to flee an abusive husband, he finds himself becoming one of his false personas, falling for the woman and flirting with becoming a criminal.
- When not teaching at the university, Professor Gary Johnson offers his services to the local police department as an undercover official. His job is to pose as a hit man and trap people to reveal their intention to pay for getting someone killed. He does this job well, his superiors are happy, but this doesn't last long as he botches up a case after he gets romantically involved with a beautiful woman client.—Madan Marwah
- Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a mild-mannered professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of New Orleans who also works undercover with the New Orleans Police Department to assist in undercover sting operations. Gary teaches his students to live on the edge and put themselves out there and get out of your comfort zone. Life is short and one needs to live it on their own terms. He himself drives a Honda Civic. He lives alone at home with a cat. For the Police, Gary was helping hiding cameras, mics and getting good recordings. He was also a trained shooter.
Jasper (Austin Amelio), a cop who portrays fake hit-men to solicit murder-for-hire confessions and payments from the suspects, is suspended for police brutality. Jasper is suspended for 120 days with pay. Jasper plans to the whole summer in Pensacola, fishing. Gary is unwillingly ushered into the role. Jasper tells Gary that the perpetrators have to believe his hit-man persona for him to get their confessions. Gary has to meet people as a hit-man, an assassin and get them to confess that they want to eliminate a particular person and get them to make a payment for the same. Once the perpetrator make the order, Gary moves away and Police move in to make the arrest. Gary says that hit-men are a myth, but his job is not to debunk the fantasy, and rather become the fantasy.
Gary quickly finds himself to be a natural in garnering solicitations, going so far as to research suspects in advance and tailor a unique hit man character for each one. The police get their referrals from prostitutes and informants all over the city, and in turn they deploy Gary as the proverbial "hit man". In one case, he helps arrest a young boy who wanted a hit on his own mother. The teenager was put in juvenile custody. Alicia (Molly Bernard) is Gary's ex-wife and is pregnant. Alicia is a fellow professor like Gary. She says that the 5 traits of personality extra-version (also often spelled extroversion), agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and Neuroticism can be changed willfully, way into adulthood, and within a few months. Jasper completes his suspension and returns to the force, but is sidelined as Gary has been doing a fantastic job.
Gary adopts a confident and charismatic persona of a man named Ron for a discontented married woman named Madison (Adria Arjona), who is trying to have her abusive husband Ray killed. Gary and Madison have a chemistry from the start. She hates cats and this has Gary intrigued, but she was kidding. Madison says that Ray is a bad person and that it keeps getting worse with time.
Gary quickly becomes both sympathetic and attracted to her, ultimately refusing the money and suggesting she use it to restart her life, much to the disappointment of Jasper and Gary's other coworkers, Claudette (Retta) and Phil (Sanjay Rao). Upon Madison's recommendation, Gary adopts a dog. Gary learns that Madison has left Ray and is now living in her own apartment. Madison says that Gary cuddles puppies and hence cannot be a hit man. Gary later begins a sexual relationship with Madison without revealing his true identity to her. Gary makes Madison understand that she can never come to his place, and not ask questions about what he does outside of the time he meets her. To keep up appearances of being a hit-man, Gary shows her how to use a gun, instructing her to aim for the heart.
One night after clubbing, Gary and Madison have a heated encounter with Ray (Evan Holtzman), Madison's ex-husband, which ends with Gary pulling a gun to back him off. Later that night, the couple encounter Jasper, who is suspicious of them being together. A furious Ray attempts to have Madison killed, unknowingly contacting Gary via the police. Upon recognizing Gary as Madison's boyfriend, Ray rushes out of the sting and proclaims that he will kill her himself. Gary also learns that technically Madison is not divorced yet as the papers are not yet signed. Gary informs Madison and attempts to move her out of her house, but she dismisses his fears, stating that Ray wouldn't have the courage to follow through. Meanwhile Jesper suspects that Gary is with Madison. He is the boyfriend, and this is why Ray ran out of the meeting.
Gary is later called into work to discuss Ray's murder, and learns he was shot in the heart with bullets belonging to a gun like Madison's. Gary confronts Madison, and she admits to the murder, prompting Gary to reveal his true identity in a panic.
After being kicked out by Madison, Gary returns to the police, who reveal their evidence on her is building after discovering Ray increased his life insurance policy (by $ 1 million) just 6 months before he died. Jasper, who knows of Gary and Madison's relationship and is jealous that Gary took his job, suggests Gary try to solicit a confession out of her using the Ron persona.
Gary arrives at Madison's house with a wire and pretends to interrogate her while giving her acting cues typed in on his phone. Madison claims that Ray was a drug addict and was probably killed as a result of that. She says that she had no clue about the life insurance policy, and that his family is rich, and they do things like this all the time. Their charade convinces the police that she is innocent, but Jasper later comes to Madison's home, blackmailing her and Gary to pay him Madison's inherited money from Ray's life insurance policy lest he send them both to jail for Ray's murder. Madison drugs Jasper's drink, causing him to pass out, and Gary ties a plastic bag over his head and plans to stage his death as a suicide.
The story jumps forward several years later, depicting Gary and Madison now happily married with two children.
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