What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Play trailer

What's the Worst That Could Happen?

PG-13

2001

1h 37m

Comedy

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

10%

Tomatometer

97 Reviews

35%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Caffery (Martin Lawrence) is a professional thief with taste and style who is trying to rob billionaire tycoon Max Fairbanks' (Danny DeVito) unoccupied beachfront mansion. But in the middle of the robbery, he finds himself face to face with Fairbanks. As Caffery is being arrested, Max sees a ring on Caffery's finger and claims it for himself. It's Caffery's engagement ring, and he's determined to get it back.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Talented cast is squandered by an uninvolving script filled with unfunny gags.

Read Critics Reviews

Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Uncomfortably distasteful at times.

Rated: 2/5

Dec 29, 2010

Full Review

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

It's worse than the title suggests.

Rated: 2/5

Jun 12, 2001

Full Review

Robert Koehler

Variety

A pinpoint study in what not to do with an adaptation, as well as in why altering a well-known fictional character to suit a poorly cast star is almost always a bad idea.

Jun 11, 2001

Full Review

John Venable

Supercala.com

Well...you could waste a few hours of your life. Does that answer the question?

Rated: 5/10

Sep 23, 2006

Full Review

Betsy Bozdech

DVDJournal.com

About as funny as Martin Lawrence's heat exhaustion-induced collapse a couple of years ago.

Rated: 1.5/4

Sep 4, 2006

Full Review

Film Threat

Rated: 1.5/5

Dec 6, 2005

Full Review

Read all reviews

alan g

I would give it negative stars if I could. Two of the worst "actors" in history, mugging and posing for the cameras. All copies of this movie should be destroyed. How Martin Horseshit and The Malignant Dwarf get into movies defies sense.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/27/24

Full Review

Audience Member

Martin and Devito do some cliché antics for similar roles they both had around this time but it is a little clever and definitely not the worst film in either leads' catalog.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

Full Review

jordan m

This movie sort of dragged on forever in that the premise was laid out pretty clearly early on and then just repeated multiple times with a predictable ending. Other than the increasing childishness there weren't many jokes that landed & the back-and-forth nature of the plot was unnecessarily confusing and there were an abundance of important characters. There were also moments where the cinematography felt lazy and uninspired, like putting the camera angle down the sidewalk turn the character is going to turn toward.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An acceptable payoff after few random funny bits with an appealing cast, underwhelmed by the ridiculing pitiful macguffin that eliminated an opportune statement and any chances to be slick. (C+)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Loved the book, and laughed out loud during movie- enjoyable and fun!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Incredibly dumb, What's the Worst That Could Happen? is complete and utter garbage. Danny DeVito and Martin Lawrence star is a crooked businessman and a petty criminal who get into a no-holds-barred grudge match over a lucky ring. The performances are just awful and the plot makes no sense. Most of the jokes fall flat and the characters aren't that likable. What's the Worst That Could Happen? is a horrible film in which nothing works.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Sam Weisman

Director

Martin Lawrence

Kevin Caffery

Danny DeVito

Max Fairbanks

John Leguizamo

Berger

Glenne Headly

Gloria

Carmen Ejogo

Amber Belhaven

Bandits

64%

58%

Bandits

Watchlist

Corky Romano

7%

39%

Corky Romano

Watchlist

Double Take

12%

50%

Double Take

Watchlist

Undercover Blues

37%

67%

Undercover Blues

Watchlist

Be Cool

29%

42%

Be Cool

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

View more photos

Synopsis

Caffery (Martin Lawrence) is a professional thief with taste and style who is trying to rob billionaire tycoon Max Fairbanks' (Danny DeVito) unoccupied beachfront mansion. But in the middle of the robbery, he finds himself face to face with Fairbanks. As Caffery is being arrested, Max sees a ring on Caffery's finger and claims it for himself. It's Caffery's engagement ring, and he's determined to get it back.

Director: Sam Weisman
Producer: Lawrence Turman, Wendy Dytman, David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj
Screenwriter: Matthew Chapman, Donald E. Westlake
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Turman-Morrissey Company, Hyde Park Entertainment
Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Content|Language)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 2001, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 16, 2008
Box Office (Gross USA): $32.3M
Runtime: 1h 37m
Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, DTS, DTS-ES, Surround, SDDS, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

Most Popular at Home Now