Recently, I remembered that I have a subscription to Apple TV.  Because of the popularity of other streaming services like Amazon Prime and Netflix, I hope you will forgive my faulty memory.  Indeed, the majority of my selections have come from the other two platforms.  However, Apple TV has a few selections unique to its library, and I have decided to make more use of it.  My first choice was Outcome.  The title does not give much away, and it offers little for a Catholic reviewer, at least on the surface.  If you read the brief synopsis, though, you will see themes like contriteness, which should appeal to all Christians.  The packaging is not the greatest, but God can work in all things.

The thing about being a child actor is that your Outcome as an artist is dependent on your ability to package yourself to the widest possible audience.  This is how Reef Hawk (Jude Friedman) got his start as a six-year-old on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962-1992), charming crowds with an old tap-dancing routine.  He turns that performance into becoming one of the most famous Hollywood actors (Keanu Reeves).  His career has brought him everything one might expect, and as an adult we meet him after he is re-emerging from a five-year hiatus during which he dealt with a heroin addiction.  He is with his two best friends from high school, Kyle (Cameron Diaz) and Xander (Matt Bomer), who have been instrumental in his recovery.  They come with Reef as he goes on interviews to talk about where he has been and what he will be doing regarding movies.  Just as things are beginning to get back on track, he is visited by Ira Slitz (Jonah Hill).  Ira is what is known as a crisis lawyer, and he has come to Reef’s beachside home to inform the star that a potentially scandalous video is about to surface.  Ira asks Reef a number of absurd questions in order to understand what might about to be exposed, but the latter is clueless as to what it could be.  Part of the reason for his ignorance is that, despite being a recovering addict, he has cultivated a nice guy image in the entertainment industry.  As he learns that there might be something out there to tarnish his reputation, he scours the internet for any hint of a crack in his congenial façade.  Ira turns to asking Reef who might dislike the actor.  When Reef again claims ignorance, Ira makes the same inquiry of Sammy (Ivy Wolk), Reef’s assistant.  Sammy is more open about who could hate Reef, and it gives him an idea of to whom he must apologize.  The apology tour is Ira’s concept as a way of getting ahead of the news, and to discover who could have the dirt.  While Reef is making the contrition rounds, Ira works on planning how to best navigate the situation.  What follows is a series of visits to various people Reef has wronged over the years, including his first manager, Richie “Red” Rodriguez (Martin Scorsese), and his mother, Dinah Hawk (Susan Lucci).  These efforts have mixed results, with Red’s being more heartfelt and mom’s being more self-serving, with the last one taking place on the set of her reality television show.  In the middle of this, Reef gets a call from Ira telling the star to come to the office in order to meet the team of other lawyers and personalities that will be helping him navigate his latest problem.  During one of these meetings, they get a call from Buddy (David Spade), who happens to be renting the house next to Reef’s.  Buddy is the one with the salacious video, and he wants $15 million for his silence.  Instead of paying the ransom, Ira suggests that Reef go on live television and claim that he had been victimized by being filmed without consent.  It is the height of Reef’s stress, and he takes his feelings out on Kyle and Xander when they suggest he sell everything and move to Hawai’i.  Reef bristles at the notion, accusing them of not understanding his life.  They both leave, and briefly Reef contemplates getting back on heroin in order to ease his anguish.  Instead, he goes on the set of Drew Barrymore’s (as herself) show prepared to tell the world that he is the victim.  Yet, seconds before being live, he gets up and leaves.  Drew is furious, and Ira follows Reef outside to say the maneuver has been a success.  Confused, Ira adds that he has gotten the blackmailer to go down to $35,000.  Reef is feeling low, but Ira cuts through the tension by calling the pay off a “cosmic tax.”  Eventually, Reef writes the check, and we close with him calling Red, who is touched to have an invitation to normal conversation by such a celebrity.

Speaking of celebrity, Outcome asks the question as to what you would do with notoriety.  To have such fame is a gift from God, and we can do nothing without His providence.  Though it may be obvious to say, so many successful people take what they have for granted.  Worse yet, they feel victimized by stardom.  Luckily, Reef understands the hypocrisy of this notion by the end, even if his realization does not have a Christian component.  It gets kind of close when Ira refers to the payment Reef makes as a “cosmic tax.”  Such a concept suggests that a higher power, for whatever reason, arranged for Reef to realize his dreams to an unheard-of degree.  While interesting, this does not match with Catholic theology.  By all means, we should be thankful for what we are given in life, from the simplest meal to the last penny.  At the same time, we do not tithe as a fee to God for our blessings.  Such an arrangement would imply a transactional relationship with God.  That may be how a child actor achieves stardom, but that is not how God operates.  His love and mercy are purely gratuitous, and there is nothing we could do or no amount of money we could spend in order to earn His grace.  In an offhand way, this is something that Reef comes to accept as the story progresses.  He thinks it has only been himself that has made everything he has achieved possible.  Yet, when he comes face-to-face with his blackmailer, he is told that he is still loved by this person, but that the other simply needed the money.  Reef could have had to write a much larger check, but instead he deals with a fan.  If that is not grace and mercy, then I do not know what is.

Despite a solid message of grace and mercy in Outcome, it is not a movie I recommend.  Only some of the material is interesting, but it is presented in a disjointed and slow manner.  The sole positive is that it has a short run time, which is another reason why I chose it.  Otherwise, avoid.