‘What’s the Worst?’ Don’t Ask

“What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” teams Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito and backs them up with a raft of talented performers, but the best that can be said for this MGM David vs. Goliath crime comedy is that it gives one and all a chance to do their comic turns. Matthew Chapman’s adaptation of the Donald Westlake novel is laborious in the unfolding of its plot, and under Sam Weisman’s brash direction the unabashed amorality of the material is crass rather than sly in tone. Even so, Lawrence and DeVito are reliably funny and energetic and their fans are not likely to be disappointed.

Lawrence’s Kevin Caffrey is a smooth and accomplished professional thief who has stolen the heart of the beautiful Amber (Carman Ejogo), who in turn has given him a ring that her father had considered a good luck charm. When Boston-based media tycoon Max Fairbanks (DeVito), suffering some financial reverses, places his vast vintage Tudor-style estate in Marblehead on the market, Kevin sees a great breaking-and-entering opportunity. However, just as Kevin is making off with a Faberge egg and other portable baubles, he runs into Max in the midst of a bubble bath tryst with a centerfold model (Sascha Knopf) eager for him to land her an “Entertainment Tonight” gig. Police lead Kevin away in handcuffs but not before Max, in an act of revenge, grabs Kevin’s cherished ring off his finger.

Max escapes the cops with ease, determined to get back his ring at all costs. A shady operator long used to getting his way, Max is just as determined to hold on to it. A struggle between the two crooks escalates swiftly, threatening to bring down both of them in the process. As criminals go, Kevin and Max are likable enough in their amusingly unapologetic criminality. Since both have always gotten away with everything there’s reason to suspect that somehow they’ll continue to do so. As a result, it’s hard to care who wins the tug-of-war over the ring and what the consequences will be for either.

Both have numerous partners in crime. John Leguizamo is Berger, Kevin’s top henchman, and Bernie Mac is his shameless uncle-mentor, who also runs an upscale restaurant. Glenne Headly is Max’s longtime executive assistant-mistress and Tarot card reader; Richard Schiff, his long-suffering attorney who has spent 20 years keeping him out of jail, and Larry Miller, ever the master portrayer of uptight types, his head of security. (When Max compliments Miller’s Earl for pulling off a fast maneuver, he replies to hilarious effect: “If the boys at the Pentagon had your faith in me there would be a Disneyland in Cuba now.”

Nora Dunn is Max’s unflappable socialite wife who retains a soft spot for her husband despite his crookedness and nonstop infidelity; all she asks is that he avoid “scandal and disease.” Ana Gasteyer is Berger’s wife and ready accomplice. They and others are amusing, especially the ever-versatile William Fichtner as a shrewd, effete Boston police detective who, when walking his three diminutive Bichon Frise dogs, commands them to “Pull Daddy . . . like a chariot.”

Anastas Michos’ fluid camera work captures the glow of an array of chic interiors and some of Boston’s most beautiful locales, creating a world of luxury and privilege appropriate for “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?,” which suggests that it’s perfectly OK for chiselers like Kevin and Earl to get away with just about anything that pops into their conniving minds.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for language and sexual content. Times guidelines: For impressionable youngsters, the sex and language is considerably milder than the film’s amorality.

‘What’s the Worst That Could Happen?’

Martin Lawrence: Kevin Caffery

Danny DeVito: Max Fairbanks

John Leguizamo: Berger

Glenne Headly: Gloria

An MGM presentation of a Turman-Morrissey Company/Hyde Park Entertainment production. Director Sam Weisman. Producers Lawrence Turman, David Hoberman, Ashok Amritraj, Wendy Dytman. Executive producers John Morrissey, Martin Lawrence, David Nicksay. Screenplay by Matthew Chapman; based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake. Cinematographer Anastas Michos. Editors Garth Craven, Nick Moore. Music Tyler Bates. Costumes Jeffrey Kurland. Production designer Howard Cummings. Art director David Lazan. Set decorator Debra Schutt. Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes.

In general release.