See how the Netflix smash Hit Man, starring Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, hits the 15 Save the Cat! story beats.

Written by: Richard Linklater & Glen Powell

Based on: The 2001 Texas Monthly Magazine article, “Hit Man,” by Skip Hollandsworth, detailing the true story of Gary Johnson, a college professor who posed as a contract killer for the Houston police in the late 1980s and ‘90s.

Directed by: Richard Linklater

Genre: Fool Triumphant (A fool whose innocence is his strength, an establishment the fool comes up against and does not fit into, and a transmutation in which the fool becomes someone new, often including a name change)

Opening Image: Professor of Psychology and Philosophy Gary Johnson (Glen Powell, showing some impressive range) enthusiastically nerds out in front of his blasé class at the University of New Orleans, arms waving wildly, expounding on Nietzsche and living dangerously and being at war with yourself and sending your ships into uncharted seas and… a student mumbles, “Says the guy who drives a Civic.”

Set-Up: In his thesis world, Gary Johnson is a divorced man who drives that dorky little Civic home every night to the suburbs, where he lives with his cats, Id and Ego; his life is very quiet, but he enjoys it. Oh, sure, there are a couple of things that need fixing (see: divorced, Civic, cats), but he does get a kick out of his side gig, working with the New Orleans police department as a technician of sorts, hiding cameras and mics for surveillance.

Gary sits in a van with his affable co-workers Claudette (Retta) and Phil (Sanjay Rao) as they monitor and record the decidedly un-affable undercover cop Jasper (Austin Amelio), who poses as a hitman in murder-for-hire sting operations. Except… Jasper has been officially suspended for roughing up some teens so now there’s a missing cog in their sting machinery.

Theme Stated: The oily Jasper expounds on the life of a pretend hitman, “Bottom line, they gotta believe it. They want you to be this killer, so you gotta be that.” For a lighthearted action comedy, Hit Man asks a fairly dramatic question: “Can you choose your own identity, or are you locked into the one you currently inhabit?”

Catalyst: Claudette and Phil nominate nebbishy Gary to be the new “Billy,” ass-kicking hitman du jour.

Debate: Gary is suitably terrified and desperate to escape, but before you know it, he’s exchanged his dorky jorts for some full-length big boy pants and is psyching himself up with “You’re a killer! You kill… uh… for a living!” We know that Gary’s going to be able to pull this off (because he’s Glenn Powell, duh), but it’s still a delight to see him trying out his tough guy persona while Claudette and Phil cringe, chuckle, and express admiration by turns.

When “Billy” accomplishes his task and his mark is arrested, he automatically reverts back to Gary, rhapsodizing to Claudette and Phil about observing three-pileated woodpeckers during a recent birding trip.

Gary’s team is convinced he is their new hitman, even though—spoiler!—that’s not a real thing; in a mega-meta-monologue, Gary acknowledges that media and entertainment created this myth and the public just will not let the fantasy go.

But it is exactly this absurdity of human behavior and consciousness that tickles Gary and helps him make his decision to:

Break into Two: And launch enthusiastically into his new part-time career as a fake version of the fake hitman.

B Story: Gary’s A Story relationship is with his alter-ego Ron, but it’s his B Story relationship with Madison Masters (Adria Arjona) that unmoors him from his rigid identity ideology and answers the thematic/dramatic question with a resounding, “Both/And.”

Fun and Games: In Gary’s wacky antithesis world, he receives details of his prospective employers from the cops and creates a stereotypical hitman specially tailored for each: Russian mobster, skanky felon with rotten teeth, shit-kicking country boy, American Psycho-esque assassin, and of course, the chill and sexy Ron, an identity that threatens to melt into Gary’s soul.

Yet he pooh-poohs the idea that he might actually be shifting internally from these human costumes; Gary remains convinced that people can only change “within [their] set-points, which isn’t really that much.”

Enter the beautiful and quirky Madison Masters, who knocks Gary off his rigid foundation; as Ron, he impulsively counsels her to take the money she’d designated to get rid of her abusive husband and start a new life, perplexing Claudette and Phil, and enraging Jasper. And when part of Maddie’s “new life” involves seducing Ron, Gary’s tightly-wound life starts to unravel. He tries his damnedest to keep a lid on their secret passion, only seeing Madison on the sly at her apartment, but he didn’t anticipate falling for her.

Midpoint: In a false defeat, the clandestine couple venture out of their love nest into public, but goofy Gary’s made a tactical error unbefitting of street-smart Ron; trusting Madison, who’s far shrewder than either of the boys gave her credit for. They bump into Maddie’s ex-husband Ray (Evan Holtzman) at a dance club and it’s no accident.

Bad Guys Close in: After Ron is forced to pull a gun on the volatile Ray, he confronts Madison, who admits she may have set up the encounter for a bit of a turn-on. Moments later, there’s another unhappy accident when they bump into Jasper who’s obviously onto them. After Ray tries to hire Gary to kill Madison, then Ron warns Madison, then Ray subsequently turns up with a bullet through his heart, then Madison admits to Ron that she killed Ray and doesn’t understand why he’s freaking out when he kills people for a living, Gary’s neatly-ordered world is officially spinning out of control.

All Is Lost: There’s no way out of this mess; Ron confesses to Madison that he’s actually Gary, an undercover sort-of-but-not-really cop, and has never killed anyone. She tells him to get out and never come back. In a double-bump, Jasper has double-crossed Gary and arranged with the team for hitman Ron to question Madison about the shooting to try to get her to confess—all while they listen in from the team’s van.

Dark Night of the Soul: Gary has lost Madison and now he’s being forced to incriminate her in a murder. This is what you get for sending your ship into uncharted seas; the storms come and you sink.

Break into Three: As Gary does the doom walk from the van to Madison’s door, his step suddenly quickens; Ron’s not about to take this lying down.

Finale: Gary gathers the team (his alter-ego Ron and the whip-smart Madison) and executes the plan, staging a huge audio confrontation for the benefit of listening ears while visually clueing Maddie in by explaining what’s really happening on the Notes App in his phone. They have a grand time yelling at each other (and getting turned on in the process) and it seems to work; Claudette, Phil, and even Jasper seem convinced that Madison is innocent.

But when Gary triumphantly returns to Madison’s house that night, a nasty high tower surprise is waiting for him; Jasper is holding Maddie captive and lays out his terms for keeping quiet—a huge chunk of the life insurance money that she’ll receive from Ray’s death.

Just when it seems that a mini-All Is Lost is imminent, we realize that Jasper has made the same tactical error that Gary did earlier: underestimating Madison. She’s drugged the beer Jasper’s been pounding while trying to extort them and he passes out cold.

Madison and Gary try to figure out what to do next and we get a deliciously dark moment of synthesis: Gary and Ron merge and together help Madison to suffocate their enemy. The villainous Jasper takes his last breath as Maddie and Gary/Ron confess their undying love for each other. Identity: not only chosen, but seized.

Final Image: Years later, a happy family tableau of the Johnsons with their angelic children as they ask, “Mommy, where did you and Daddy meet?” Gary and Madison smile at each other. Our Hero has managed to live dangerously—while still driving a Civic.