In the new straight-to-Apple TV film “Outcome,” Keanu Reeves portrays one of the biggest movie stars in the world.

However, his Reef Hawk has been out of the limelight for five years. In preparing for a TV interview with longtime pals Kyle (Cameron Diaz, Reeves’ co-star from the panned 1996 comedy “Feeling Minnesota”) and Xander (Matt Bomer), he practices explaining that, as he’d been in show business since age 6, he needed a break; he wanted to find out who he was away from the Hollywood spotlight.

“I won’t say,” he adds, “that I was hiding a heroin addiction from the public and that my best friends from high school and my insane lawyer helped me cover it up for years so no one ever found out.”

“Hmm,” Kyle says, “that is a really smart omission.”

“Strong omish,” Xander adds.

Directed and co-written by Jonah Hill, “Outcome” is branded as a “dark comedy.” It’s a fatal flaw that THIS reasonably entertaining exchange is about as dark and funny as the flick gets.

It’s astonishing just how dull “Outcome” is, considering both its remarkably short runtime of less than 90 minutes and its oddly fascinating supporting cast, which boasts, among other recognizable folks, the always colorful Hill, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese and Susan Lucci, who was synonymous with the soap opera “All My Children” for its four-decade-plus run.

A big problem is the screenplay, penned by Hill and Ezra Woods, which sees the hyper image-conscious protagonist threatened with the release of what is said to be highly sensitive video footage of him and the actor responding by going on what is designed to be a preemptive apology tour to visit those whom he’s wronged.

These scenes are almost never funny. They are sometimes sincere and surprisingly emotionally effective — Scorsese, as Reef’s former manager, and Welker White (an acting coach and actor who, interestingly enough, has appeared in some of Scorsese’s films), as an ex, Savannah, are quite good — but they do not deliver on that promise of “dark comedy.”

There are a couple of reserved chuckles to be had during the scene in which Reef attempts to apologize to his mother, Dinah (Lucci). We won’t spoil the gag, but the situation isn’t exactly as it first appears. However, Hill and editor Nick Houy err by letting the sequence drag on, missing an opportunity to end it on a relatively high note.

By far the biggest issue with “Outcome,” however, is the casting of Reeves as Reef. According to the film’s production notes, Hill had imagined Reeves in the role “from the start” of the project.

He should have kept on imagining.

Reeves, while perhaps not a Reef-level star but a bankable commodity in his own right, is perfectly fine at the center of a “Matrix” or “John Wick” movie. Action chops with a side of stoicism? Reeves has you covered.

But he is hardly the most charismatic performer around, and his anemic performance cripples whatever chance “Outcome” may have had to be a fun experience.

During an advanced screening of the recent science fiction hit “Project Hail Mary,” we found ourselves thinking, as entertaining as Ryan Gosling is at the center of the action, what other actors may have brought to the table in his place. Take, for instance, Matt Damon, who starred in the previous film based on a novel by Andy Weir, 2015’s “The Martian”; he’d probably have been fantastic, too, as, likely, many others would have been.

Could Gosling, Damon, et al., have saved “Outcome”? Doubtful — the material’s too weak. However, they likely would have propped it up a bit.

Reeves is easy to buy in many of the film’s scenes as Reef seems — at least these days — like a nice enough fellow. (By seemingly all accounts, Reeves is about as good a dude as you’re likely to encounter in Hollywood.)

It’s much harder to accept him in the few instances of Reef being a jerk, especially a late-game scene in which he is altogether crappy toward Kyle and Xander for, essentially, no reason. (It’s not Reeves’ fault that the scene feels necessary to heighten the drama but not remotely earned.) Sure, maybe when Reef was in the throes of drug addiction, he wasn’t the most jolly guy to be around, but we do not get so much as a single flashback to help sell that idea.

Perhaps it’s telling that Hill, who portrays Reef’s oddball, crisis-resolving attorney, Ira, is sporting big glasses, a bald head and thick beard. It’s as if he knew the lines he’d helped craft for himself were pretty weak, so he’d better put on a real show. (And he tries. He’s over the top but a snore all the same.)

This is a disappointing third directorial effort for Hill, who showed promise with the 2018 comedy “Mid90s” and helmed the well-received 2022 documentary “Stutz,” about his therapist, Phil Stutz.

“Outcome” leaves you with one last moment that feels authentic: When Reef is finally able to ask his blackmailer why this person extorted him, the answer he gives rings entirely true.

Like so much of the movie, it’s not dark, and it’s not comedy. But at least it’s something.

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‘OUTCOME’

1.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language throughout and sexual references)

Running time: 1:23

How to watch: on Apple TV April 10

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