Director: Jonah Hill
Writers: Jonah Hill and Ezra Woods
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Jonah Hill, Cameron Diaz
Synopsis: Hollywood star Reef is forced to confront his problems and atone for his past after being threatened by bizarre video footage from his past.
Outcome starts its journey already climbing uphill. Imagine being a celebrity the public loves to hate, then asking that same audience to sit down and watch your film. That’s the tension Jonah Hill walks into from the very first frame. The past several years have put the Superbad actor in a challenging position within the media landscape. The steady stream of behind‑the‑scenes antics has cast Hill in a less than favorable light. One of the most striking incidents from the news was his push to have Christopher Mintz‑Plasse removed from Superbad. The decision was allegedly because Mintz-Plasse’s breakout performance threatened to overshadow him. Then came the leaked text messages to a woman he was dating—private conversations that, once public, only intensified the scrutiny.
A movie is a collaboration of many talents, and with Outcome, Hill is simply one of those individuals. However, given the subject matter in Outcome, it’s difficult not to take reality into account. What is clear in the subject matter of Hill’s latest movie is that he is well aware the world does not like him. Moreover, taken at face value, it doesn’t seem like he even likes himself. It feels like an apology—the kind with an intention that is difficult to decipher.
The film centers on a beloved actor named Reef Hawk, played by the most lovable actor in Hollywood, Keanu Reeves. The character shares many commonalities with Reeves’ Hollywood persona. Reef is an actor considered “the most likable guy” in the industry. That is, until his lawyer, Ira (Jonah Hill), receives information about the circulation of a damaging video. Ira recommends that Reef begin making amends with anyone he may have hurt. Like Hill’s personal life, Reef is less likable behind the scenes. For example, it’s implied that he takes professional relationships for granted, used his ex-girlfriend, and abused drugs heavily during one phase of his career. He has few friends, and confides in two longtime buddies he has known since high school, Kyle (Cameron Diaz) and Xander (Matt Bomer). Given the number of people that Reef has met as a celebrity, the list of individuals hurt by Reef might be uncomfortably long.
Reef then goes on an apology tour, starting with his first agent, Red (Martin Scorsese). It’s in these introductions that the screenplay feels strangely expository. Reef greets his ex-agent as “Red Rodriguez. Manager to the Stars.” There is another similar sequence involving an interview with a real-life TV personality, Van Jones. In this segment, Jones oversells Reef, saying, “Before we get started, I just got to say, this is a career highlight for me. You, Tom Cruise, Denzel, you’re my favorite actors of all time.” The dialogue in some of these conversations feels unrealistic. Most people don’t greet someone by giving their full name and occupation at the start of a conversation. The entire film is a trip down a winding road with a celebrity seeking forgiveness from people he has wronged. Unfortunately, the motivation throughout the first half of the movie is so self-serving that it’s hard to feel a connection. There’s even a strange conversation between Reef and his mother in which she says, “Just because an apology is performative doesn’t mean it’s not the truth.” It’s in these scenes that the viewer may find it difficult to grasp what Jonah Hill is trying to say with this movie.
Outcome had great potential if Jonah Hill had stepped outside of his own head and let the story speak. His lawyer persona, Ira, steamrolls every scene with aggressive humor that rarely works. He is loud, uncomfortably obnoxious, and spills off-color humor moment-to-moment. It feels like someone begging for attention after being criticized for doing something wrong. Whatever is meant by his performance in this movie, it doesn’t strike the right tone for a comeback. His performance undermines its intended sincerity, and the abrasiveness contradicts the supposed ego it claims to condemn. And even worse, it gives the story almost zero room to breathe. On top of this, a large portion of the characters are unlikable. In most stories, there is an effort to find a level of relatability. Here, every character is full of ego, self-centered, or is trying to get something from Reef. Even when there is sincerity between Reef and his only two friends, they feel like characters completely out of touch with everyday reality.
The best I have to say about Outcome is that, by the end of the film, it lands on nuggets of an idea. Throughout the narrative, Reef is merely making good on the pain he has caused others to preserve his wealth and legacy. The big reveal, if there is one, is that someone recorded Reef in a compromising moment of loneliness, and his PR team uses that moment to paint him as the victim. Ultimately, Reef sabotages the PR maneuver because he knows, deep down, that he is neither a victim nor a hero. It’s not an outstanding moment of earnestness, but it grabs at something grounded. The problem with Outcome is the same as the problems that impacted the careers of comedians such as Dave Chappelle and Chris Tucker. When they first started, they were funny because everything they talked about in their stand-up was relatable. Now, Dave Chappelle is 52, filthy rich, and he talks about rich people’s problems, makes offensive humor about the same set of minorities every special, and comes across as out of touch with everyday life. Maybe Jonah Hill is sorry for everything that he’s done. Maybe Outcome is the only way he knows how to express his apologies. But the execution feels like that of a rich person, living like an alien, trying to relearn what “sorry” actually means.
