Jonah Hill’s ‘Outcome’ – Review Thread

Follows Hollywood star Reef (Keanu Reeves) as he is forced to confront his problems and atone for his past after being threatened by a bizarre video footage from his past. Releasing on AppleTV

Director: Jonah Hill

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Jonah Hill, Cameron Diaz, Martin Scorsese, Matt Bomer

Rotten Tomatoes: 14%

Metacritic: 34 / 100

Some Reviews:

The Guardian – Cath Clarke – 3 / 5

Hill’s dialogue is straight from Hollywood’s inner sanctum, and his script, co-written with Ezra Woods, is frequently though not consistently hilarious. Still the performances are unfailingly entertaining: Laverne Cox as a women’s rights lawyer, Drew Barrymore as herself and Martin Scorsese, movingly, as a washed-up talent manager. Incidentally, Ira has a picture of Kanye West on his wall as the poster child for coming back from being cancelled.

AV Club – Tim Grierson – 'D'

At its most interesting, Outcome is attuned to the shock waves that “cancel culture” wreaked upon Hollywood, forcing the famous to examine their past acts. But there’s no real sense of reckoning, instead waiting for good guy Reef to realize the importance of forgiveness and friendship. But the life lessons Reef learns aren’t meaningful, and the movie’s message about making amends is patronizing. In the end, it’s the audience that deserves an apology.

Collider – Nate Richard – 4 / 10

Outcome is clearly coming from a personal place for Hill. It doesn't come across as too bitter or full of self-pity, but the point of the movie is never made fully clear. It moves at too quick a pace to leave much of an impact, and it's a bit of a tonal nightmare. Hill has already proven himself as a director, but Outcome was a strange yet bold choice to make as his second narrative film.

NextBestPicture – Ema Sasic – 4 / 10

“Outcome“ has good intentions, aiming to show the real side of Hollywood, but odd choices muddle its results. It wants to have all these emotional moments and still be a funny take on Hollywood, but often one is frustratingly sacrificed for the other. It’s a shame considering all the comedy and showbiz experience Hill can bring to this project. Even if it doesn’t fully come together in the end, Reeves fans will be pleased to see the star take on an introspective character and deliver some moving work.

IndieWire – David Ehrlich – 'C-'

Erratic, petulant, and shot with a humor-killing hyper-saturation that smothers its Apatowian improv scenes under the sickly patina of a Gaspar Noé drug trip (the film was lensed by “Climax” and “Enter the Void” DP Benoît Debie), Outcome is nominally about a repentant soul trying to make amends with the people he’s wronged, but it seems more interested in focusing on the people who’ve wronged its hero in return.

The New York Times – Brandon Yu – 3 / 10

In “Outcome,” Keanu Reeves plays a washed-up movie star who has been a noxious narcissist and addict — in private. For years, his team has been protecting his public persona as the nicest guy in Hollywood. But the second part mostly feels like a limply added asterisk, as if the film, directed by Jonah Hill, realized halfway through that it had to explain its miscast of Reeves as a notorious jerk. That’s a big enough misfire, but it’s just the first in “Outcome,” a film that is shot like a fever dream and written like a puckish remake of “Jay Kelly.” It is a slapdash satire of modern celebrity culture that is awkward where it wants to be acerbic and clumsily maudlin where it wants to be meaningful.