capsule : what a surprise : a big-name hollywood comedy that's actually funny . tim robbins and martin lawrence both score points ( although robbins comes out slightly ahead ) . the opening scenes of nothing to lose hit me like a left hook when i was expecting a body blow . tim robbins , playing a corporate hustler named nick beam , is in bed with his wife , murmuring in a dead , empty voice about how the love is gone . then we get a surprise -- several , actually -- that had both me and the rest of the audience falling out of our seats . this sets us up on several levels : not only is robbins a good actor , but so is the beam character . nick works for an advertising company which fills his hours , but he still manages to find time for his wife . one afternoon , he gets out of a whole slew of corporate obligations and comes home early . . . to find his wife and his boss in bed together . he wanders downstairs , dazed , and then does what no man in a blue funk should ever do : get in his car . his aimless driving leads him to a carjacking , courtesy of a fellow named t . paul ( martin lawrence ) , who senses mr . whitebread ain't firing on all thrusters when he doesn't even look at the gun pointing at his temple . " boy , did you ever pick the wrong guy on the wrong day , " beam mutters with a deadly little smile , and floors it . one scarifying ride later , the two of them take stock in a diner far outside the city . they don't like each other , but they're forced to rely on each other when the land rover runs out of gas and paul sticks up a gas station to fill it up . bit by bit , beam's story comes out . . . along with a bizarre plan to get revenge on his boss by robbing him blind . the movie's a pastiche of recent comedy cliches , and there's no point in ignoring it . what's different is that the movie is funny . most comedies that try to play this kind of mix-and-match don't work ; they strike the wrong notes , or make the heroes into idiots . both beam and paul know what's what , which makes them interesting to watch : you wonder what they're going to do next . in one scene , they rob a sporting-goods store , and what could have been a routine stick-em-up turns into a heated competition over who had the more intimidating stickup style . martin lawrence is an odd duck . i can't figure out if i like him or hate him , but i liked him in this movie : he does things with his voice and face that shouldn't be physically possible , which is half the reason for the laughs he gets . the other half is his timing and attitude : pay attention to the scene where he dresses down beam for not having a tighter grip on his wife ( and beam's reaction , too ) . or the scene where he tries to tell beam he's in danger , and gets shrugged off . ultimately , the cliches win in nothing to lose , but that doesn't mean the ride isn't enjoyable . my basic rule of thumb for comedy is : did i laugh ? yeah -- a lot more than i probably should have , but i can't say that about most movies . and the scene with the security guard goth-dancing in the laser vault has to be seen to be believed . 
