Grade: C+

Verdict: Thief vs. thief in a sometimes sharp, sometimes buffoonish comedy.

Details: Starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito. Directed by Sam Weisman. Rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual content. One hour, 35 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: Some of the best ingredients you could hope for are in “What's the Worst That Could Happen?”

There's comic Martin Lawrence (“Big Momma's House”) as career burglar Kevin, a self-described “connoiseur of all things portable.”

There's Danny DeVito as media mogul Max Fairbanks, who sparks a movie-length grudge match with Kevin by stealing the thief's lucky ring.

There's a crack supporting cast including John Leguizamo, Glenne Headly, Bernie Mac, Larry Miller and Nora Dunn.

And it's all based on a novel by Donald E. Westlake, whose work has produced sharp, edgy films like “The Stepfather,” “The Grifters” and “Point Blank.”

So everything looks set for a smart, colorful caper — something like a goofy “Out of Sight,” or a “Get Shorty,” transplanted to this movie's Boston setting. But director Sam Weisman (“George of the Jungle”) never figures out the right tone.

Things starts promisingly, as Kevin gets dissed at a stuffy auction house by an employee. Seeing him inspecting a painting, she tells him, “If you're here for the sports memorabilia auction, it's next Wednesday.” In no time, Kevin proves he has a flawless eye for good, pricey (and heistable) art, and also puts the snob in her place.

At this auction he meets lovely British lass Amber (Carmen Ejogo), who promptly falls for him and gives him the lucky ring that turns out to be the movie's comic motor. That's when “Worst” runs into one of its first problems. Sorry, it's just difficult trying to buy Lawrence as a romantic leading man.

Luckily, you don't have to dwell on that too much as the plot kicks in. Smug billionaire Max surprises Kevin ransacking his house, calls the cops and gloatingly insists the lucky ring is his own. So it begins: Kevin assembles his unofficial family of fellow thieves and computer hackers to follow Max's every move and make his life a hell on earth.

Many of those tricks are a lot of fun. But “Worst” veers unsteadily from believable caper to overblown cartoon, and even some of the savvier actors are left looking awkward. Headly, who managed to upstage Steve Martin and Michael Caine in “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” is wasted. So is Leguizamo, though luckily he's not an over-the-top nightmare here, as he is in “Moulin Rouge.”

Then there's William Fichtner, who turns up playing a fey police detective — a mincing dandy who appears to be sculpted of vanilla frosting. Fichtner gives everything he's got, but the stereotypical role is more sight gag than character. Maybe the worst that can happen to a good actor is a part like that.

— Steve Murray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution