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Part of what makes audiences see Richard Linklater as one of the most infallible filmmakers working today is the effortlessness with which his stories unfold. Think of the coolly conveyed bro-ness of "Everybody Wants Some!!," the carefree core of "Dazed and Confused," or the fact that watching "Slacker" literally feels like watching a 97-minute brain scan of a slacker. Even his more complex, structured works -- the "Before" trilogy and "Boyhood" -- are infused with charm and have a seamless nature to them. In a cinematic landscape that has long been dominated by IP, Linklater has managed to consistently make films that feel more akin to private memories than to movies made for mass audiences.

And yet, here's "Hit Man," a capital-G genre picture with the fingerprints of its director all over it. Not only does Linklater's signature charm ooze out of every frame, but star and co-writer Glen Powell brings his charisma to both screen and page in a multifaceted star-making turn for a guy who should already be a household name. Powell plays Gary Johnson, a psychology professor who moonlights as the New Orleans Police Department's personal Geek Squad, but is suddenly thrust into the role of undercover hitman, putting away those who try to hire him.

One day, he's contacted by the beautiful Madison Masters (Adria Arjona), who wants Gary -- er, "Ron", his undercover alias -- to kill her abusive husband. But that's no way to handle this, "Ron" tells Madison. Instead of arresting her on the spot, which is, after all, what his job calls for, Gary offers Madison some sage advice, one hottie to another. Just leave him, he says, start a new life. And hey, should you ever want or need me, you've got my number.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to deduce whether or not Madison will give "Ron" a call, if he'll answer, or if the two hottest human beings in the state of Louisiana will hook up. And it's the burgeoning romance that quickly develops between the twosome that fuels Linklater's electric romp, a film that served as one of the more memorable, thoroughly enjoyable theater experiences I've had in years (which is where you should see it, never mind the fact that it was purchased by Netflix out of TIFF). Sure, it helps that Powell and Arjona could each likely convince audiences that they have genuine sexual chemistry with a stalk of asparagus if required, but beyond their steamy love affair lies humor and heart to spare.

Loosely based on a 2001 Texas Monthly magazine article of the same name, "Hit Man" is part-action, part-comedy, part-romance, and part-intellectual dissection of the human psyche... and it somehow all works at once. This is a movie that dares to do it all, to do whatever it wants to do in order to tell the best possible story, a fitting exercise given the character at its center. Gary's life has been built on doing what is considered safe, so it's exciting to watch him shed the confines of his own existence to become someone he seems increasingly comfortable being. "I like Ron," he says. "He's not a thinker. He's a doer." Perhaps no actor is better built for such a transformation than Powell -- if you can convince yourself, for a moment, that he's not still one of the most beautiful people on the planet behind an excess of khaki and a pair of bifocals ripped straight from the 70s.

And maybe you can't, but therein lies the beauty of a film like "Hit Man": fantasy reigns supreme in its narrative, from the fantasies of its characters to the fantastical nature of how every increasingly delightful beat unfolds. But the fantasy that remains well beyond the end credits is the film's freshness in a genre that, of late, has felt tired. "Hit Man" is anything but. It's as alive a film as Linklater has made since the aforementioned "Everybody Wants Some!!" in 2016, which doubles as his last collaboration with Powell -- coincidence? Simply put, it's pure fun, a quality too few movies bother to prioritize these days. If the reason for that is the fact that it takes a master like Linklater for something as brilliantly rendered as "Hit Man" to emerge, then it's a price audiences should be willing to pay.