Outcome

Hollywood insiders might appreciate the winking, self-deprecating jokes in Outcome more than those of us who watch and pass judgment only through our screens.

Beneath its quirky characters and cartoonish scenarios, this madcap showbiz satire from director Jonah Hill (Mid 90s) lacks real-world grounding or meaningful insight into contemporary fame.

While it generates some big laughs with its acerbic mix of sight gags and one-liners poking fun at cancel culture, PR spin cycles, and celebrity victimhood, the energetic comedy ultimately becomes caught between too scathing and too soft.

Although he’s been in the public eye since preschool, Reef (Keanu Reeves) seems to have successfully navigated the transition from child star to superstar. He’s got multiple Oscars, franchise clout, and an impeccable reputation among fans.

Still, that’s difficult to maintain in a social-media age where public perception can turn in an instant. “You’re always being watched these days everywhere,” Reef laments to his longtime best friends and sidekicks (Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer).

Behind the scenes, Reef has struggled with addiction and has always put on a front to keep those skeletons in the closet. Then his abrasive lawyer and chief enabler (played by an unrecognizable Hill) — always without a hint of sensitivity or self-awareness — becomes panicky over a potentially damaging video.

Uncertain of the origin or contents, Reef begins obsessively scouring the internet for updates. Scrambling to cover up a potential scandal, he’s forced to confront his past.

Reef’s paranoia intensifies with each encounter along his apology tour, from his former manager (Martin Scorsese) to his ex-girlfriend (Welker White) to an enigmatic neighbor (David Spade) to his trainwreck of a diva mother (Susan Lucci).

Along his surreal journey toward personal redemption and reckoning, Reef searches for his true motives and reconsiders his priorities.

Sprinkling in some amusing name-drops along the way, the unfocused screenplay is so busy slinging barbs that it lacks coherent narrative direction as an expose into whatever secrets it’s trying to reveal or point it’s trying to make.

Who knows to what extent Hill or anyone in the eclectic cast channeled their own experiences. Yet Reeves plays along admirably amid the mayhem surrounding Reef, even if his introspection feels forced and insincere.

As Outcome takes a breath and maps a final-act path to catharsis, Reef is irrevocably more obnoxious than endearing, and so is the film.

Rated R, 83 minutes.