Thomas Zelda (Tim Allen) has been paroled from prison for being involved in movie piracy. He is picked up by his eccentric sister Viki (Sigourney Weaver) who is revealed to be a habitual liar (she claims it's so people aren't hurt by the truth).
Tommy arrives at Viki's home, where he plans to spend some time putting his life back together when it is revealed that his grandmother was told (by Viki) that he went to France instead of prison. Due to her heart condition, Tommy keeps up the story leading to a euphemism where France means "prison". Viki's husband Ed (J.K. Simmons) asks Tommy if he thinks he'll go "back to France" soon.
During dinner, Gray (Ray Liotta), Tommy's old partner from the movie piracy business, shows up and his sister runs him off.
The next day, Tommy meets with his parole officer, Angela Popadopolous (Jeanne Tripplehorn), who requires him to work at a pirate-themed restaurant called "Pirate Burger" as part of his parole. He informs Angela that he wants to start up his father's painting business instead, but is told that he is required to work at the restaurant.
While on the job, Tommy sees Christy (Julie Bowen), his "dead" ex-girlfriend come up to the drive-through window. Realizing Viki lied to him, he takes the delivery car to see Christy, leading them to spend the night together. The next morning, it is revealed that Christy is engaged to Frank (Kelsey Grammer) and Tommy is forced to escape the apartment.
Since he took the delivery car without permission, Tommy is fired from "Pirate Burger" and risks going back to jail for breaking the terms of his parole. Tommy is given another chance and goes back to work.
That night, Tommy is "kidnapped" by Gray and Gray tries to persuade him to get back into the piracy business. Tommy refuses stating that he wants to "go straight".
Tommy is called to make a delivery. He arrives at the apartment of Angela. Her son Ethan is trying to play matchmaker to get her to start dating again. While there, Tommy notices that the apartment is in need of a paint job. Tommy decides to show Angela the kind of work he can do. With the help of two ex-con coworkers Rick and Edgar (Malcolm Goodwin and Jon Gries) from Pirate Burger, Tommy breaks into Angela's apartment while she's away and repaints the living room.
Meanwhile, the fictional story about Tommy's "France" trip continues to evolve including a relationship with Simone, a French astronaut who was killed on the launchpad so that Tommy's mother would not fly everyone to France to meet her (because she does not exist).
Angela is furious at Tommy for breaking and entering, but understands what he was trying to do and doesn't press charges. She sets him up to paint a judge's home. While doing the job, Angela shows up to check on Tommy's work and invites him to observe Ethan's little league team. Later, the judge's wife who is impressed by the work invites Tommy to paint the upstairs as well.
While getting tools together, Edgar and Rick prepare the upstairs for painting and knock the judge's wife's diamond ring off the dresser. Wanting to do something nice for Tommy, Edgar steals the ring and gives it to Christy as a "gift from Tommy". Tommy, who doesn't know that the theft has occurred, joins Angela at the little league game and they begin to express feelings for each other. They set up a formal date.
When Tommy arrives at Angela's apartment for the date, Angela is furious over the theft and demands the ring back. Tommy goes to Pirate Burger to confront Edgar and Rick, but they have disappeared. He steals the delivery car (his vehicle refuses to start) and calls Edgar and Rick. They inform him of the ring's location and he drives to Christy's house to get the ring back. After a short confrontation with Frank and Christy, he gets the ring and returns it to Angela.
The manager of Pirate Burger presses charges on Tommy, and he goes back to jail. Gray shows up to bail him out and, disillusioned with his attempts to "go straight", Tommy teams back up with Gray.
Meanwhile, Ethan shows up at Viki's house wanting to see Tommy but he is not there. Viki finds Tommy with Gray at the airport and makes up a story about Ethan going missing. Tommy chooses to abandon Gray at the airport (after Gray pushes Viki to the ground) to find Ethan. When he shows up at Angela's apartment, he finds out that Viki has lied to him again. Tommy's concern for the well being of her son softens Angela's animosity towards him.
At the behest of Viki, Tommy invites Angela to come to a dinner at Viki's house. Angela shows up for the dinner. A story Viki told Tommy's grandmother about Angela being Tommy's "grief counselor" falls apart when Angela informs her that she is actually Tommy's parole officer, and the France story falls apart too. Viki tries to act surprised, but nobody buys it.
News of the production made its way to the news in March 2008.[2]
Tim Allen financed the film himself, a choice taken by Kevin Costner on various films. Costner advised Allen "on how to direct it, how to put it out" into distribution. He also received directing advise from Barry Sonnenfeld, and read Francis Ford Coppola.[3]
Casting included friends he had previously worked with, including Sigourney Weaver and Ray Liotta.[3] Weaver, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and J. K. Simmons were announced in April 2008.[4] Production began that same month, with Weaver having just wrapped Avatar.[5][6] Production wrapped at some point before October.[7]
Release
In December 2009, Tim Allen did a preview tour for the film, entitled "Stand Up and Show It."[8] The 8-city, 10-day tour would begin with a standup routine, followed by a screening. Allen suggested the concept may not have worked out, as he felt he was too funny ahead of the "light comedy" film.[3] The tour visited Birmingham, Michigan (Dec. 1),[9]St. Louis Park, Minnesota (Dec. 2),[10]Phoenix, Arizona (Dec. 3), and Atlanta, Georgia (Dec. 8).[11]
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 8% based on reviews from 12 critics, with an average score of 2.62/10.[12] On Metacritic, it has a score of 21 out of 100 based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[13]
Joe Leydon of Variety magazine wrote: "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."[14]Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Allen screws up his directing debut with a script that smothers his wit in a blanket of bland."[15][16]
Related Research Articles
Galaxy Quest is a 1999 American science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by David Howard and Robert Gordon. A parody of and homage to science-fiction films and series, especially Star Trek and its fandom, the film depicts the cast of a fictional cult television series, Galaxy Quest, who are drawn into a real interstellar conflict by actual aliens who think the series is an accurate documentary. It stars Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. The film was a modest box office success and positively received by critics: It won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Nebula Award for Best Script. It was also nominated for 10 Saturn Awards, including Best Science Fiction Film and Best Director for Parisot, Best Actress for Weaver, and Best Supporting Actor for Rickman, with Allen winning Best Actor.
The year 1997 in film involved many significant films, including Titanic, The Full Monty, Gattaca, Donnie Brasco, Good Will Hunting, L.A. Confidential, The Fifth Element, Nil by Mouth, The Spanish Prisoner, and the beginning of the film studio DreamWorks.
Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s, though his career seemed to get a second wind in the late 1990s.
Timothy Alan Dick, known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement (1991–1999) for which he won a Golden Globe Award and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fox sitcom Last Man Standing (2011–2021). He voices Buzz Lightyear for the Toy Story franchise for which he won an Annie Award and played Scott Calvin and Santa Claus in The Santa Clause franchise (1994–present). Allen's other films include Tropical Snow (1988), Galaxy Quest (1999), Joe Somebody (2001), Zoom (2006), Wild Hogs (2007), The Six Wives of Henry Lefay (2009), Crazy on the Outside (2010), 3 Geezers! (2013), and El Camino Christmas (2017).
Heartbreakers is a 2001 American romantic crime comedy film directed by David Mirkin and written by Robert Dunn, Paul Guay, and Stephen Mazur. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Gene Hackman. It marks the last onscreen film appearance of Anne Bancroft before her death in June 2005.
Raymond Allen Liotta was an American actor. He first gained attention for his role in the film Something Wild (1986), which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination. He was best known for his portrayals of Shoeless Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams (1989) and Henry Hill in the film Goodfellas (1990). Liotta appeared in numerous other films, including Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), John Q. (2002), Identity (2003), Killing Them Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), and Marriage Story (2019).
They All Laughed is a 1981 American romantic comedy film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Audrey Hepburn, Ben Gazzara, John Ritter, Colleen Camp, Patti Hansen, and Dorothy Stratten. The film was based on a screenplay by Bogdanovich and Blaine Novak. It takes its name from the George and Ira Gershwin song of the same name.
Jeffrey is a 1995 American romantic comedy film directed by Christopher Ashley, based on the play of the same name by Paul Rudnick, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation. The film stars Steven Weber, Michael T. Weiss, Patrick Stewart, and Bryan Batt.
Snow Cake is a 2006 independent romantic comedy drama film directed by Marc Evans and starring Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Hampshire and Callum Keith Rennie. It was released on 8 September 2006 in the United Kingdom.
The 60th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 2002, were held on January 19, 2003, in the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California. The nominations were announced on December 19, 2002.
The Last Shot is a 2004 American action comedy film starring Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Calista Flockhart, Ray Liotta, Tim Blake Nelson, James Rebhorn and Tony Shalhoub. The film is written and directed by Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the Steven Spielberg films Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal.
One Life to Live is an American soap opera that was broadcast from 1968 to 2013, on the ABC network from 1968 to 2012. The series starts with One Life to Live storylines (1968–1979). The plot continues in One Life to Live storylines (1980–1989). The plot in the next decade is outlined in One Life to Live storylines (1990–1999) and the story concludes in One Life to Live storylines (2000—2013).
Half Moon Street is a 1986 British-American erotic thriller film directed by Bob Swaim and starring Sigourney Weaver, Michael Caine, Keith Buckley, and P. J. Kavanagh. The film is about an American woman working at a British escort service who becomes involved in the political intrigues surrounding one of her clients.
Eyewitness is a 1981 American neo-noir thriller film produced and directed by Peter Yates and written by Steve Tesich. It stars William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Christopher Plummer, and James Woods. The story involves a television news reporter and a janitor who team to solve a murder.
Date Night is a 2010 American romantic comedy crime film directed and produced by Shawn Levy and written by Josh Klausner.
Crazy, Stupid, Love is a 2011 American romantic comedy film directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, written by Dan Fogelman and starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon. It follows Cal Weaver, a recently separated man who learns how to be more romantic and charm women.
My Salinger Year is a 2020 drama film written and directed by Philippe Falardeau, based upon the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff. It stars Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, Douglas Booth, Seána Kerslake, Colm Feore and Brían F. O'Byrne.
Master Gardener is a 2022 American crime thriller film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring Joel Edgerton, Sigourney Weaver, and Quintessa Swindell. The film premiered out of competition at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and was released in the United States by Magnolia Pictures on May 19, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
