THE OUT-LAWS (2023)

THE OUT-LAWS (2023)

Tagline: Nope.

(Action, Comedy, Nice Car) [R]

Think of how many terrible decisions we have to make to get to this moment in time. 

In this one, Parker and Owen are getting married on Saturday. Parker is a suspicious stripper according to Owen’s parents, and Parker is an undesirable goober to Parker’s parents. Neither is true, well okay, maybe Owen is part goober? Parker’s parents have been “off-grid” for a while and are coming into town but not really for the wedding. Meanwhile, the bank that Owen is the manager of is robbed by the infamous Ghost Bandits. Owen suspects the bandits are Parker’s parents. 

First off, I think when you are going to do humor, it should at least be somewhat assessable if you are trying to draw a wide audience. Some of the “Dan Marino” jokes in this movie are really in poor taste even if he signed off on them. We also get a lot of freaking weirdness from Phoebe King (a rival bank manager) in the film which is just unnecessarily crass. I get that there is an audience for this and that is why they do it, but when the script feels like it’s written by some slob who watches corn all day, it comes across as amateur, and frankly really not funny. Yes, I meant to say “corn”. I said what I said. 

Anyway, as a result, we got another R-rated comedy, which is fine. It is what it is and surprisingly in the mess of unfunny garbage, we do actually get a few decent funny jokes. The other thing we got was a pretty cool story with a bit of heart at the end. They also sneak some nods to other films like DIE HARD and the Pierce Brosnan 007 films. 

I really loved this cast. Adam Devine (PITCH PERFECT) is pretty decent in most of what he does, even if he almost always plays the same type of character. He’s kind of like the Dwayne Johnson of comedy films. This one is no exception and his character Owen, for me was super relatable. I always dig loyalty. Nina Dobrev plays Parker and does a pretty solid job. This movie isn’t the first time she’s worked with Adam Devine; they were both in THE FINAL GIRLS. Getting back to Pierce Brosnan (MARS ATTACKS) who plays Billy in this, I really couldn’t stand his character, but Brosnan is a fantastic actor even in this. I can usually give or take Ellen Barkin (THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION), but she does a pretty solid job in this. I feel like they did Julie Hagerty dirty by giving her some really bad lines along with Lauren Lapkus and I really like both of them. I also loved seeing Lil Rel Howery (FREE GUY) in this as Tyree, but do wish they had given him and Laci Mosley (THE WEDDING YEAR) more screen time. What screen time they did get, they were pretty funny in. We also get an underutilized Michael Rooker (GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY) in. Seeing a pattern here? 

As far as the pacing goes I thought this one moved along at a pretty good clip. Every scene feels purposeful even when the writing is failing us. The soundtrack was a letdown. Overall this is a forgettable flick with a few enjoyable moments and a great cast. For my tastes, it was a bit much, but if you like crass comedies, this thing might be for you. 

THE OUT-LAWS gets a 3 out of 7, that's the best I can do. It’s certainly watchable, but probably won’t land on anyone’s “comfort film” list. Actually I guess it could, but it shouldn't. 

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