What's The Worst That Could Happen? (2001)

crime comedy
directed by : Sam Weisman
featuring : Martin Lawrence - Danny DeVito - John Leguizamo - Glenne Headly - Carmen Ejogo
running time : 1 hour 37 minutes
The novel of the same name by crime author Donald E. Westlake becomes this MGM comedy starring Martin Lawrence as Kevin Caffery, a thief who breaks into the supposedly unoccupied beachfront mansion of billionaire Max Fairbanks (Danny DeVito). Max unexpectedly catches the burglar red-handed and summons the police, but before the criminal can be carted off, Max impulsively claims that Kevin's lucky ring is his own. Enraged, Kevin vows revenge on the tycoon, and so begins a game of one-upmanship from which neither party will cease and desist, even when the result becomes public scandal, financial ruin, divorce, and criminal proceedings. What's The Worst That Could Happen? co-stars Larry Miller, Ana Gastever, Richard Schiff, William Fichtner, Bernie Mac, and Nora Dunn.

Energetic comic actor Lawrence is forced to shamelessly mug and improvise his way through this flaccid mess of a comedy, while his co-star DeVito portrays a pale imitation of his memorable characters from Ruthless People and Other People's Money. This is a well-cast film peopled by talented actors. They've all proven themselves more than up to the challenge of provoking mirth in the past but they don't do so in this instance, because the script is a bungled scrap heap of lame one-liners and the sort of mentally challenged character motivations usually reserved for bombastic action films. Only Fichtner, a revelation as a flamboyantly gay queen of a detective, and Mac, as a larcenous uncle, escape unscathed in their relatively brief onscreen appearances. After an hour-and-a-half-plus running time, the film even has the cheek to crib its final line from the classic comedy The Front Page. What's The Worst That Could Happen? is a funny concept that's still in search of a suitable script.