So Apple TV has recently debuted a new movie starring Keanu Reeves, Outcome, which is a hybrid of sorts: On the one hand it’s a wacky satire on fame and excess, on fandom and the celebrity curse of no privacy, and on the other hand it’s a serious drama about a famous actor’s guilt, isolation, and sins of arrogance.
The cast is excellent and very much a part of its schizophrenic personalities: Keanu Reeves plays Reef Hawk, described as the most beloved and acclaimed actor of his generation, who has two Academy Awards (this detail is used for both serious and comic effect). After a hiatus of five years from filmmaking he’s on the comeback trail when a stranger contacts his lawyer with damaging video footage from his past. The plot centers around that event, and suspense: It’s not divulged what is actually on the video, or if it’s even real, until near the end.
A very much slimmed-down Jonah Hill (who also wrote and directed) plays Reef Hawk’s lawyer and zany fixer. That part of the plot is energetic if not frenetic satire, with Hill going over the top in several scenes, to good comic effect. Cameron Diaz plays Kyle, a high-school friend of Reef’s, who keeps him grounded, kind of—along with Matt Bomer, who plays Xander, Reef’s gay friend. There are some funny and touching cameos, including Martin Scorsese playing Reef’s first agent, and David Spade playing a sleazebag. My favorite was Drew Barrymore playing herself, with a funny joke about Ellen Degeneres.
As a contrast, Reeves plays this seriously. It’s like his Hamlet. He even has moments of anguished indecision, like the famous Dane, when he’s offered a way to short-circuit the extortion attempt by playing the victim-card. From the outside he’s emotionally devastated, in part because he claims he’s been so careful not to be filmed or to film anyone else when involved in bad behavior. (It’s revealed he was a heroin addict for many years.) There’s a meta angle to the accusations: Keanu Reeves is known as being a good-guy celebrity, sensitive to others, friends of the movie crew, and free from the usual bad-behavior associated with male mega-stars. But in this role all that is actually a fiercely maintained myth: One of the funniest scenes occurs when they try to brainstorm who could be out to get him, and it turns out many many people consider him an asshole. Toward the end he’s really able to pull off the emotional pain of his situation, his guilt and vulnerability. At a late moment he asks his accuser, “Do you hate me?” The accuser replies, “No, man. I love you, bro.” Then why extortion? “I needed the money.”