Outcome – Review

Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 24 minutes, Director – Jonah Hill

Since childhood Reef Hawk (Keanu Reeves) has been a beloved and acclaimed star, having gone quiet for a few years he’s making a big return, unless a mysterious video from his past will stop it. Can an apology tour prevent damage before any is done?

Outcome is a film that takes the stance of ‘maybe we shouldn’t jump to conclusions so quickly about cancelled stars’ and to some extent raises the question ‘do these people ever really remain cancelled?’ It also happens to be co-written and directed by Jonah Hill, or more rather the Jonah Hill of around 15 years ago, having found a career in stoner comedies.

His view of Hollywood’s cancellation process sees him playing the lawyer to Keanu Reeves’ movie star lead Reef Hawk. Hawk has been a major player for decades, since appearing on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show as a child he’s maintained fame and adoration, also gaining two Oscars, with very few problems. He may have recently taken some time off to deal with addiction, but nobody seems to have noticed. However, what could cause problems is a mysterious video that an anonymous source claims to have, one that could ruin his image. At the insistence of lawyer Ira – whose offices hold giant pictures of Bill Clinton and Kevin Spacey – he embarks on an apology tour, whilst trying to find out what the video is and who it’s from.

Hill’s stoner humour often seems forced. It feels like the script is intentionally trying to go for shock value with not very shocking material. What’s actually present is a set of somewhat flat characters recycling jokes from years gone by – Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer as Reef’s rambling, clichéd friends particularly stand out as suffering from a lack of successful laughs, becoming quickly tiresome. This isn’t to say that the film is void of humour, one or two quick asides get a slight chuckle but there are prominent gaps between them, and a lot that falters. Largely feeling like each scene, or character, is just a new idea for an SNL sketch.

There’s a stale feeling of tiredness to the film that starts to feel like Hill is trying to make a point of his own return – having been labelled as cancelled himself in the past after allegations of abuse – or premature jumps in Hollywood to protect itself, and its stars. It all sits oddly with the directions the film goes in, and always feels as if changes and a sharper, more satirical nature could make it a strong film, one a bit more tongue-in-cheek. Unfortunately, that’s not how Outcome sits, as it places itself outside of a proper genuine feeling for both laughs and overall narrative. It all feels a rather odd endeavour.

Calling back to not-so-edgy stoner humour, there’s no real shock value to any of Outcome as it never really does anything convincing in a comedy that feels like a selection of outdated SNL sketches than anything sharp.