Nothing to Lose

Directed by Steve Oedekerk, Nothing to Lose follows mild-mannered executive Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) as he snaps and, along with an off-kilter carjacker (Martin Lawrence’s Terrance), schemes to rob his office of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Filmmaker Oedekerk, armed with his own screenplay, delivers a lighthearted and predominantly affable buddy comedy that benefits from the charming efforts of its two stars, as both Robbins and Lawrence turn in agreeable work that goes a long way towards smoothing over the periodic bumps and lulls within the narrative. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that Oedekerk has populated the supporting cast with such scene-stealing players as John C. McGinley, Giancarlo Esposito, and Michael McKean.) The inclusion of a few missteps here and there (eg an overly silly bit involving a dancing security guard) is, as a result, not nearly as problematic as one might’ve feared, and it’s clear, too, that Oedekerk does a nice job of suffusing the proceedings with several genuinely funny jokes and set-pieces – with, especially, Nick’s attempts at extricating Terrance from a precarious, potentially-deadly situation certainly ranking high on the picture’s list of laugh-out-loud funny bits. By the time the satisfying closing stretch rolls around, Nothing to Lose has cemented its place as an entertaining (albeit somewhat forgettable) endeavor that sustains one’s interest from start to finish.

*** out of ****