Directed by Jonah Hill — Screenplay by Jonah Hill and Ezra Woods.
Jonah Hill’s Outcome is a black comedy film that follows an A-list actor named Reef Hawk (played by Keanu Reeves), who has won Oscars and is generally very well-liked. As he is returning from a five-year hiatus, in which he struggled with a heroin addiction, he gets word that someone is extorting him with a video that could seriously damage his career. After talking to his crisis lawyer, Ira Slitz (played by Jonah Hill), he sets out to make amends with all of the people that he may have wronged in his career, and now he has to realize that the many positive headlines don’t necessarily make him universally loved.
In recent years, Jonah Hill’s career hasn’t really gone the direction that I think many expected it would after the multi-hyphenate transitioned from major American comedies into genuine prestige filmmaking by appearing in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and, later, making his directorial debut with the much-praised coming-of-age dramedy mid90s. Since then, he has struggled to reach the same heights as a filmmaker, as the Netflix comedy (which he co-wrote), You People, received mixed-to-negative reviews. Outcome is his second narrative feature, while his upcoming third, a comedy titled Cut Off, has been removed from Warner Bros. Pictures’ release schedule. Meanwhile, he has been accused of emotional abuse and predatory behavior, with his attorney, Marty Singer, stating that the latter accusation was a complete fabrication. For this reason, it isn’t a complete surprise that the actor-turned-filmmaker would want to make a film about cancel culture, about a popular actor, accusations made against him, how he treats others, and the eccentric attorney he works with. Unfortunately, the film isn’t insightful or good. Frankly, I thought Outcome was a bit of a mess.
I think Hill meant well with this film. It’s a film about an actor realizing that one should care about more than just oneself, who needs to stop caring about headlines and start caring about the people in his life. It focuses on a main character arc that takes an actor from being hyperaware of how interviewers should present him to being aware of the people who got him where he is. So, I think that’s a nice, well-intentioned narrative, all things considered. At the same time, it feels like a bit of a misstep and quite tone-deaf to have the film feature large framed images of actually ‘cancelled’ actors and artists. Even if he intended to emphasize the company that Reef Hawk doesn’t want to become associated with, it feels wrong to have these images feature prominently and without Hawk making a point to comment on it (if memory serves). If it was meant to be funny (this is a comedy, after all), it didn’t come across that way.
The major problem here is that the film is a tonal mess. This is going to sound strange, because they’re obviously the same person, but whenever Jonah Hill ‘the actor’ is on screen, it feels like he doesn’t know what movie Jonah Hill ‘the director’ is making. The same goes for the rest of the cast. In one scene, his friends, or hangers-on — played by Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer — are trying very hard (and failing) to be funny, in the next, there’s a genuine heart-to-heart scene, and then in the very next scene, a heart-to-heart that’s trying to be funny (and, again, failing). Whenever Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill are in scenes together, the film completely stops working. Both Reeves and Hill feel miscast. Reeves doesn’t hit on the panicked, overly concerned with himself aspect of his character believably, and his comedic delivery is often off. While Jonah Hill’s energy, delivery, and humor are way off from the rest of the film, which, I have to say, is never funny. Hill is trying too hard to inject humor into his film on his own on screen, but neither his character’s over-the-top design (bald, white beard, overly fake-looking teeth, etc.) nor his lines do the job.
In addition to this, it fails on technical levels. Multiple scenes have poor lighting that almost makes it difficult to see certain characters’ faces. Plus, Reef Hawk’s house is on the oceanfront, and the oceanfront background looks distractingly artificial. Do I think there could be an artistic reason for these mistakes, or choices (if you want to be charitable)? Sure, there could be, but, for me, these were additional elements that didn’t work in a film full of missteps. As a sidenote, I do think it was a mistake to not actually show us what Reef Hawk was like when he supposedly mistreated people. All we get here is him being on this apology tour, but it would’ve been nice if we had gotten more of a glimpse into how he was beforehand. Perhaps that would’ve helped to sell this narrative about celebrity perception better.
However, there is one pretty great thing about this film. The one element that really excited me here was that Martin Scorsese’s appearance here wasn’t just a courtesy cameo. The legendary director plays Reef Hawk’s former manager, whom Reef opted not to keep in his life. It’s fifteen to twenty minutes into the film, and it was the first scene that felt real in Outcome. It feels real because Scorsese is playing the scene with sincerity and inner life that you can feel as a viewer. You can feel him being honest about his experience and in his conversation with Reef, as he calls out that Reef doesn’t even know why he’s apologizing. Scorsese’s performance doesn’t just liven up the film; it’s the best thing about the entire thing. He’s relaxed; he believes the words coming out of his mouth, which is noteworthy because the rest of the film prominently features two miscast actors.
But Martin Scorsese’s good supporting performance here is the only positive that I can highlight when it comes to Jonah Hill’s Outcome. Jonah Hill has been an immensely popular actor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he found his way back on track in the next few years, but Outcome just isn’t it. It features Hill at his most unfunny as a performer, in a film of his own making, which is a tonal mess that fails both as a comedy and as a serious film about celebrity cancellations. Given the fact that he rose to prominence as the lead of a film co-written by Seth Rogen, I must admit that I did think of Rogen’s excellent The Studio while watching this. But Outcome can’t hold a candle to that Hollywood satire (or Entourage, for that matter).
3.5 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
