THE OUT-LAWS (NETFLIX) (2023)

SYNOPSIS: Owen Browning (Adam Devine) is a straight-laced bank manager about to marry the love of his life, Parker (Nina Dobrev). When his bank is held up by the infamous Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws (Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin) who just arrived in town, are the infamous Out-Laws.

MOVIE REVIEW:

There’s a high chance that anything that comes out of a Netflix and Happy Madison collaboration is a dud. With the exception of Hustle, most of Adam Sandler stuff suffers from lazy and over-the-top writing. The Out-Laws is another great example.

Owen Browning (Adam DeVine) who works as a bank manager is about to marry his girlfriend, Parker (Nina Dobrev). His soon to be in-laws, Billy (Pierce Brosnan) and Lilly (Ellen Barkin) suddenly shows up on his door one day despite the fact they are supposedly on a retreat in the Amazon.

It turns out that Billy and Lilly is a pair of notorious bank robbers known as the Ghost Bandits and their once partner, Rehan (Poorna Jagannathan) has kidnapped Parker unless the duo hands in a sum of $5 million. Desperate to save his future wife, Owen teams up with Billy and Lilly to rob a bank assuming they are not caught by a pursuing FBI agent (Michael Rooker).

Saved solely by an enthusiastic DeVine who plays the usual dorky character, The Out-Laws on the whole works fine. It’s zany, offers some chuckles and the pairing of old-timers, Brosnan and Barkin which adds to the insanity. Brosnan has a few funny moments with DeVine’s character although more of their riffing will make it far more enjoyable. Barkin on the other hand with the rest of the female actors are mostly side-lined except for Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy) who delivers an amusing cameo as a bank security expert, Phoebe King.

As a nonsensical action comedy, the flick contains several passable action sequences. A shootout in a bakery and a ludicrous chase sequence in a cemetery are the highlights. The Out-Laws simply follows the format of Sandler’s Mystery Murder series by throwing in raunchy jokes, stars and surprisingly entertaining action sets to fill up a brief 90 minutes runtime.

The outcome makes absolutely no sense but who cares about logic and the law when it comes to a Sandler comedy? Indeed it’s yet another lazy, over-the-top comedy from the Happy Madison factory. At least we get to watch Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin this time and not one of Sandler’s Grown Ups buddies. Who knows, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer might be next.

MOVIE RATING:

Review by Linus Tee