Review of Crazy on the Outside (2010) by Elin T — 28 Jun 2011

A harmless little mess of a movie whose cast you've mostly heard of, including Tim Allen, who also directed. Looking and sounding like a second-tier '80s made-for-cabler, Crazy on the Outside is the sort of bland trifle one might watch to kill time during an extended flight. You'd think that getting Allen, Sigourney Weaver, J.K. Simmons, Kelsey Grammer, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Ray Liotta together for a comedy would be at the least intriguing, but as it turns out, not so much. Characters float in and out of the picture. Gray, for instance, is somewhat menacing, but he disappears for long stretches as Tommy tries to sort out his life. Christy, too, pops up only sporadically (and Frank, hardly at all). There are predictable subplots involving Tommy getting into and out of trouble, and a few laughs (most provided by Simmons). But "Crazy on the Outside" is mostly an uninspired affair.

VERDICT: "Rental" - (Mixed to Negative reaction). These films are only worth renting because of certain good things that are worth seeing, but are not worth paying at a theatre to see due to bad things that overcome anything good.