Critics Claim ‘Hit Man’ Is Glen Powell’s Movie Star Moment. Sure, Jan.

Glen Powell is having quite a year. On the heels of Anyone But You, his rom-com with Sydney Sweeney that saw him stripping down to just his cupped hands (after she basically fingers his hole; we swear it makes sense when you’re watching), comes Hit Man on Netflix. 

The reviews have been effusive for the new Richard Linklater rom-com/noir, but they all seem to center on one very specific aspect of the movie: Hit Man is Glenn Powell’s star-making turn.

Here’s the thing we can’t help but ask (and maybe it’s because we consume and create a lot of porn): If Powell has been kicking around Hollywood with that body since at least Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens on Fox in 2015, is this really his year? Or has the stardom ship sailed?

Powell has chiseled features and chiseled torso and chiseled charisma to burn, but stardom (true film stardom, at least) has eluded him. Chris Pratt became a movie star once he got the body; Ryan Reynolds had the body but lacked the star-making turn until “Deadpool.” But somehow Powell, who has had the body and now stars in a well-crafted and charming Netflix movie (his second, after “Set It Up,” by the way) is entering the ranks of bona fide movie stars? We smell a conspiracy.

Hit Man offers Powell the chance to carry a movie on his strapping shoulders and do a lot of weird accent work as his fake hired assassin’s disguises. It’s a fun performance in a smart movie, but the whole thing feels too small to warrant “A Movie Star Is Born.”

More likely, critics are charmed by his (very charming!) performance, and who doesn’t want to be on the ground floor of something big happening? Who doesn’t want to feel like a star-maker in writing, anointing the latest movie star and falling all over themselves to do it? (Who doesn’t think that those headlines might be clickable?)

Of course, it’s entirely possible that we’re blinded by his dimples, abs, and ass and merely jealous, and that’s why we consider Powell to be a handsome block of cream cheese. What do you think? Will Hit Man make Powell a star? Will the critics jizz all over themselves again this summer when Powell stars in Twisters (out July 19)? Is Powell a Ryan Reynolds or a Jude Law? 

Either way, watch Hit Man and enjoy Powell being an absolute weirdo for the first third in jorts, no less. Or just watch Anyone But You with the Albolene again.