Movie never develops humor,
plot makes movie seem long
By
Morgan Conklin
Summer Reporter
What’s the worst that could happen? Perhaps
this movie.
The movie, "What’s the Worst That Could
Happen?" is a comedy that never really develops into the humor
that Danny DeVito and Martin Lawrence are capable of.
Kevin Caffrey (Lawrence) is a thief who steals
his way into a girl’s heart. The two fall in love and she gives
him her good luck charm — a ring that was given to her by her
father. Kevin vows to never take off the ring.
One day, while working as a thief in return for
a cash profit, Kevin receives word from his boss that billionaire
Max Fairbanks (DeVito) has lost the rights to his house.
Max is not allowed to occupy the house any longer.
This gives Kevin the perfect opportunity to steal some of the expensive
artifacts from the mansion.
Kevin breaks into the house. Instead of finding
the house vacant, he is confronted by Max, who has violated his order
to stay out.
The two confront each other, and Max turns Kevin
in to the police. As the police are taking Kevin away, Max catches
glimpse of the good luck ring and convinces the police that Kevin
has stolen it as well.
The cops believe Max, leaving the movie's focus
on the confrontations the two encounter as they struggle to gain sole
possession of the ring.
The movie is essentially a battle of two men
doing whatever it takes, no matter how illegal or ruthless, to satisfy
their egos and to get the good luck ring onto their finger, and it
just doesn’t work.
The movie repeatedly shows Kevin breaking into
many billionaire's houses in hopes of catching him off-guard in order
to get the ring.
The first break-in was funny, but it became too
much like "Groundhog Day," after the third time.
One actor who stood above DeVito and Lawrence’s
bland characters was the detective hired to investigate the robbery.
He was a very feminine man who sported purple and white striped suit
shirts with matching ties. The audience was entertained by the detective
and laughed at his mannerism. Unfortunately, he was a minor contribution
to the story, and the laughs stopped coming when he was off the screen.
Throughout the movie, there were occasional slapstick
humor jokes that were typical of any DeVito or Lawrence movie. However,
they were not frequent, which made this less-than-two-hours movie
seem longer than it really was.
1 1/2 stars
