Out on a Limb (film)

Not to be confused with the 1987 TV miniseries based on Shirley MacLaine's Out on a Limb (book).

Out on a Limb is a 1992 comedy film written by Joshua and Daniel Goldin and directed by Francis Veber. It stars Matthew Broderick, Jeffrey Jones, Heidi Kling, Courtney Peldon, Michael Monks, and John C. Reilly.

The film was released by Universal Pictures on September 4, 1992. This was the first movie that Broderick and Jones starred in together since Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released six years earlier.

Plot

Hotshot businessman Bill Campbell (Broderick) has returned to his hometown of Buzzsaw at the request of his younger sister Marci (Peldon), who is convinced that their stepfather Mayor Van Der Haven (Jones) has been murdered and replaced by his twin brother Matt Skearns.

On the way to Buzzsaw, Bill's car and clothes (including his wallet which contains an important contact number) are stolen by a woman named Sally (Kling) and he is forced to hitchhike home naked, where he is picked up by two drunken brothers—both named Jim (Monks and Reilly). Over the course of the day, Campbell must find Sally, retrieve his wallet, and avoid the diabolical Skearns, who is looking for financial compensation after spending 15 years in prison for his twin brother.

The film ends with Skearns driving off a cliff and into a canyon, rather than risk capture by the police. Marci, who tells her classmates what happened, introduces them to her brother and his wife, Sally. Marci also tells her classmates that the Jim brothers were congratulated as heroes for trying to bring a criminal to justice. Both were given jobs as FBI informants.

References

• Out on a Limb at the Internet Movie Database
• Out on a Limb at Rotten Tomatoes
• Out on a Limb at Box Office Mojo