Familiar Plot with a Talented Ensemble
Russell Crowe is one of the very, very few movie stars who combine that seemingly effortless, chameleon-like ability to shift into vastly different characters while sustaining his magnetic movie-star charisma. His newest film is The Get Out, a modern crime thriller fresh from the Elmore Leonard mold. Crowe stars as Marco Kapak, a club owner whose life on the edges of legality has left him with new health concerns, and his attempts to go straight are thwarted by a complex, comedic series of crimes at his expense.
The plot goes more or less according to plan from there, and you won’t find too many major surprises. The joy of the movie is entirely in the performance of Crowe, getting into the comedic bits he did so well in the now-cult-classic The Nice Guys years ago.
Crowe is joined by Aaron Paul, who plays a bit against type here (and has a lot of fun doing it), Nina Dobrev, who aids Paul in the criminal mishaps against Crowe, and Luke Evans, a somewhat over-the-top potential buyer of the business.
A Secret Weapon
The Get Out just highlights how much Russell Crowe is worth to a movie. It’s like when a superstar athlete joins a team without much chance at relevance, but the star’s ability to wow us makes attending games, even losses, worthwhile.
Crowe’s career is full of dizzying highs, though some came decades ago now, when he was on a near all-time run of Oscar-worthy performances around the late ’90s and early aughts. His career since then has ranged from interesting to questionable choices, perhaps for artistic expression, fun, money, or some combination of those factors. The Get Out is clearly something he wanted to do and cared about, having established a good relationship with director Borte on Unhinged.
Crowe’s ability is infectious, and it helps elevate all those around him. This is a fine supporting cast, but you can tell that they feed off his unique energy, his joy, and his command. The movie hums along through familiar plot points with all of them clearly enjoying themselves.
The tragedy, if you can call it that, is that there is nothing truly remarkable about the end product, and it hurts a little bit every time a true great like Crowe delivers a memorable performance in a sub-memorable film. It’s the curse of being so damned good and having done so much amazing work.
What Exactly Does The Get Out Miss?
Audiences are savvy, more and more, and movies have to deliver more than what we already know well to keep us engaged. The glut of content available to everyone at all times in all kinds of formats makes it so that something solidly delivered — like The Get Out, which harkens back to plenty of strong crime-thriller entries of the past — just isn’t enough to move the needle. Something creative has to be done to the format or execution, or story, or somewhere to force the audience’s hand when it comes to a ticket sale… or pressing “play” on a streaming device. The Get Out reminds us that in an era cluttered with entertainment, what used to be satisfying may not be likely to suffice any longer.
The Get Out releases June 26, 2026.
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