Monday, July 10, 2023

'The Out-Laws' A Review

The Out-Laws is an action-comedy about a earnest enthusiastic bank manager Owen(Adam DeVine) who's finance's absentee in-laws come into town for their wedding and drag Owen into their criminal past.

DeVine's affability somewhat works here but it's a bit to broad and forced to really click. The supporting cast, for the most part, are a bit more successful with the comedy and the actual emotion because it's played in a more grounded way. He's not bad but it's just a performance that doesn't match the movie he's in. Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin as the titular parents of the bride are wonderful but, with an exception here or there, they're not given enough to do. Nina Dobrev as Owen's fiancĂ© Parker is unfortunately little more the set dressing. Thankfully the supporting cast is kind of shockingly dripping with talent- Lil Rel Howery, Lauren Lapkus, Richard Kind, Poorna Jagannathan, Michael Rooker- are all great and that depth on the dench as it were raises this mostly pedestrian/recycled idea a bit above the fray.

Visually it has the same kind of homogenized workman-like shot-in-Atlanta-suburbs feel that many Netflix movies do. The one thing that elevates the production design above the fray is some of the action sequences, particularly a bank-robbery-come-car-chase that peaks in a cemetery. Pretty incredible and, taken in context, odd given they most of blown a lot of their budget on it.

Shrug-inducing but not in a bad way.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.

No comments:

Post a Comment