Summary
The Misfits is as stomach-turning as it is patronizing. It also happens to be painfully unfunny.
Leave it to Renny Harlin to throw a twist on the action caper comedy by having a handful of millennial and Gen-Z do-gooder wannabes play Robin Hood by stealing money for a charity that’s full of downright borderline racist stereotypes. Then, finally, the infamous bloated action director’s latest movie, The Misfits, is as stomach-turning as it is patronizing. It also happens to be painfully unfunny.
The story is one of those trope-filled heist films that I’ve come to love because, at the very least, they aren’t hard to generate suspense in and the chemistry is based on the prize everyone chases at the end of the tunnel. It has the “world-renowned” thief, Richard Pace (Pierce Brosnan), who seems to only specialize in lifting wallets. He is recruited by a bunch of twenty-somethings (Nick Cannon, Rami Jabur, and Jamie Chung) who have the nerve to want to steal millions of dollars of gold from the world’s most secure prison in Dubai and not even keep it for themselves. Of course, they are led by Hope Pace (Hermoine Corfield), who “was trained by the best,” her father, Richard himself.
I don’t mean to kick Mr. Harlin since he didn’t write the awful script of The Misfits. That prize goes to Kurt Wimmer, who wrote such notorious awful remakes as Point Break, Total Recall, and Children of the Corn. Then again, his writing partner, Robert Henry (Who’s Your Caddy), isn’t any better. They seem to specialize in offensive 90s racial impersonations and accents that have retired from comedy years ago. That’s not pushing the envelope. It’s just ignorant. And that’s the director’s responsibility to stop that.
Everything is just so off in The Misfits. I’m not sure I’ve ever watched a film so self-assured on how funny it is and yet be this misguided at the same time. Some of that is the result of Cannon’s cocky narration as if the audience should be in awe of how clever they are. Then there’s the case of what seems an endless scene of giving an entire prison population food and stomach poisoning. Everything comes out, literally, at both ends, and for about five minutes. I can’t imagine seeing vomit and shit all over the walls and floors on the big screen in such a vile, disgusting way. It made me appreciate the pandemic has almost killed 4DX theatres.
The filmmakers here waste a decent cast—Cannon in particular, who should excel in action supporting roles. The only person who gets away clean is Chung, who shows surprising chops for acting scenes and standing up to Brosnan’s past-his-prime James Bond sexual advances. Other than that, Harlin and his band of Misfits created a genre film that keeps the standard cliches, themes of social justice and has the gall to do it in such an objectionable and dull way.
