Follows Hollywood star Reef as he is forced to confront his problems and atone for his past after being threatened by a bizarre video footage from his past.
Chuck says:
The vast majority will never know the burden of being a celebrity. While fame, fortune and everything that goes with it may seem attractive from a distance, the isolation that comes with it, is a challenge many have wilted under. With your every moment under the microscope and your past scoured by scavengers looking for minor, years-old, youthful transgressions to inflate for their own gain, the upside to this kind of notoriety hardly seems worth the trouble. That being adored and cut-off would affect your mental health is without question; how you deal with that is the test, one few seem to survive unscathed.
This is the subject of Jonah Hill’s intriguing, yet flawed new film “Outcome,” a darkly comedic look at the pressure a beloved Hollywood star endures and its effect on his sanity. Co-written by Hill and Ezra Woods, the movie comes with a sense of authenticity, what with the filmmaker’s many years dealing with Tinsel Town eccentrics. That it presents an exaggerated version of Hollywood’s fame dynamics, is obvious. What’s not so, and more disturbing, is how much or how little Hill is stretching the truth.
A bit of meta casting is at play, at least to a certain extent, with Keanu Reeves appearing as Reef Hawk, the actor universally known as the “nicest guy in Hollywood.” (Reeves is often referred to as such.) Problem is, that’s a bit of a sham as his boorish, self-centered behavior has been covered up by his agent, handlers and self-serving best friends (Camerion Diaz and Matt Bomer) for years. Having been in front of the camera since he was 10 years old, the actor has taken a prolonged break to recharge. Truth be told, he’s been trying to shake his drug habit and is ready to return to the big screen with a shaky sense of sobriety.
However, this is derailed when Hawk gets a call from his crisis attorney Ira Slitz (Hill). Seems someone has a bit of video from the actor’s past showing him in a less than admirable light. $15 million is the price for it not to be sold to the media. Not sure who’s making the threat, Hawk goes on an apology tour, visiting his ex-manager (Martin Scorsese), his mother (a fantastically foul-mouthed Susan Lucci) and his ex (Welker White). He’s hoping one of them is the blackmailer and his making amends will stop them from carrying through on the career-ending threat.
Reeves, who’s allowed his stoicism to become a crutch at times, delivers a genuinely poignant, and perhaps, his best performance. Subtly conveying a sense of confusion and pain while trying to maintain Hawk’s slipping public persona, the actor finally uses his less-is-more approach to great effect. This is crucial to the film’s success as he provides the only sincere character we can relate and sympathize with amidst the charlatans that surround him.
Hill, at times, seems unhinged as Slitz, his narcissism overpowering everyone and everything in each scene he appears. But then the other shoe drops at the end of the second act, a scene playing out in which we see a more compassionate side of him that’s as sincere as his business acumen is false. Survival in Hollywood requires compromise of character, a slippery slope that can become all consuming. Keeping his work and private lives separate was never an option for Hawk, his loss of identity so much collateral damage in his mother’s quest for fame. And while “Outcome” may take place in a land of make believe, its lesson has real world implications we would all do well to remember.
3 Stars
Pam says:
Keanu Reeves leans into vulnerability in “Outcome,” a sly and unexpectedly introspective satire about fame, ego, and the wreckage left behind. Reeves plays Reef Hawk, a once-beloved child star turned blockbuster icon whose career imploded under the weight of his own excess; namely a massive ego and an even bigger drug problem. After a five-year disappearance, Reef resurfaces with a plan: rebuild his image and reclaim his place in Hollywood.
But redemption isn’t clean.
With prodding from his inner circle played with slick confidence by Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer, Reef embarks on an apology tour to confront the damage he left in his wake, much to his surprise. The list is long, the memories are hazy, and the truths are inconvenient. Guiding (and often bulldozing) this process is his high-strung crisis lawyer, played by Jonah Hill, who also co-writes and directs with a chaotic energy that mirrors the industry he’s skewering.
What begins as a biting Hollywood satire gradually reveals itself as something more reflective. Hill uses the absurdity of celebrity culture as an entry point into deeper territory, namely identity, regret, and the uncomfortable realization that self-perception rarely matches reality. The film argues, without sentimentality, that accountability is messy and forgiveness—both given and received—is never guaranteed.
Reeves delivers one of his more restrained performances, balancing quiet remorse with flickers of lingering ego. Diaz and Bomer serve as polished enablers orbiting his comeback, but it’s Hill who steals the film. His performance is loud, erratic, and often hilarious, yet threaded with an unexpected depth that keeps the character from becoming a caricature.
Cameos from Susan Lucci and Martin Scorsese add an extra layer of industry self-awareness, while the lean 83-minute runtime keeps the story moving with purpose. The script is tight, pointed, and refreshingly uninterested in easy redemption arcs.
OUTCOME may present itself as a Hollywood send-up, but it lingers as something more sobering: a reminder that behind every carefully managed persona is a truth waiting to surface.
Now streaming on Apple TV+.
3 Stars
