Entertainment

Conned by a ‘Samaritan’

A would-be piece of pulp fiction about a parolee trying to go straight, “The Samaritan” proves that even Samuel L. Jackson can be boring.

SLJ plays Foley, a former con artist who, after 25 years in prison, is recruited back into the game by the slimy son (Luke Kirby) of his dead former partner, whom Foley was forced to shoot while having a gun pointed at his own head. The son gets Foley entangled with a femme fatale (Ruth Negga) young enough to be Foley’s daughter.

A series of silly twists ensue, accompanied by musty tough-guy dialogue that lurches from one cliché to another. Will Foley seize control of an impossible situation by getting back into the confidence game? You knew the answer to that before you sat down, but the grift, like the rest of the movie, feels routine and half-baked.