Nothing to Lose (film)

Nothing to Lose is a 1997 comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Tim Robbins. The film was directed by Steve Oedekerk who also wrote the film and made a cameo appearance as a lip-synching security guard in the film. In addition to Robbins and Lawrence, Nothing to Lose boasts an additional cast of John C. McGinley, Giancarlo Esposito, Kelly Preston, Michael McKean, and others.

The film was released in July 1997 and went on to gross over forty million dollars at the box office. Naughty by Nature sang the theme to the movie, which was titled "Nothing to Lose (Naughty Live)", but it was remix version of the song "Not Tonight" performed by Lil Kim and featuring Left Eye, Da Brat, Angie Martinez, and Missy Elliott that garnered the most attention from the soundtrack as it gained much airplay on television and radio and even reached the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

The film was shot at various locations in California and New Jersey. The prime location used for filming in California was Los Angeles and Monrovia. The prime location used in New Jersey for filming was Bloomfield, NJ.

Synopsis

The film is about Nick Beam (Robbins), an advertising executive who thinks his life is going very well -- until he returns home from work and discovers that his wife (Preston) is apparently having an affair with his boss. On the edge of a nervous breakdown, Nick drives around the city until small-time carjacker T-Paul (Lawrence) jumps into his truck and attempts to rob him. Turning the tables on his mugger, Nick kidnaps T. Paul on the spot and drives him to the desert. After T-Paul robs a gas station in the Arizona desert, the mismatched pair devise a scheme to rob Nick's boss in revenge for the affair.

Nick knows the combination for the safe, the best time to enter, and where not to venture in the building. T-Paul knows the weaknesses of the security system, how to avoid the cameras, and how to get through any electronic locks that they might encounter.

Another criminal duo (resembling Nick and Paul) get blamed for the gas-station robbery and pursue the pair to L.A. After a brief confrontation, the two ram Nick's truck off the road.

After escaping the 'real' criminals, the pair execute their plan. During the robbery, however, Beam reveals himself to the security cameras after damaging his boss' prize fertility statue. The situation worsens further as the crooks that Nick and Paul escaped from, who are now waiting outside, follow them to their hotel and place Paul in a trap for Beam to find when he returns from the bar.

Nick calls his wife and discovers that she wasn't, in fact, having an affair -- the cuff links he thought were his bosses were left by his boss at the Christmas party, and it was her sister and her sister's fiancee in the bed. Suddenly overcome with remorse, he quickly manages to rescue T-Paul from his (somewhat inept) kidnappers and return the money to the safe. Nick assures T-Paul that nobody will bother to look at the tapes, unless something is missing or damaged.

Of course, Nick's face is still on the tape, and (since he vandalized his boss' statue) the tapes are being closely examined. Nick races to his boss' office, but arrives too late -- only to discover that 'an electrician' has recorded over the tape.

After finding T-Paul, it's revealed that T-Paul recorded over the tape, saving Nick from the life he himself was desperately trying to escape. In return, Nick gives T-Paul a legitimate job -- as the electrician responsible for the security system he so easily bypassed.

Taglines

• When the odds are against you, sometimes the only bet is yourself.
• One has no job. The other has no life. Together, they have everything to gain and...
• Slick advertising guy who's lost it. Small time thief who can't find it. When life sucks this bad, you may as well blow it all....

Awards & nominations

• Bogey Awards
• won in 1998

Soundtrack listing

1. "Nothin' to Lose (Naughty Live)" - Naughty By Nature
2. "Not Tonight (Remix)" - Lil' Kim/Left Eye/Da Brat/Missy Elliott/Angie Martinez
3. "C U When U Get There" - Coolio/40 Thevz
4. "Put The Monkey In It" - Dat Nigga Daz/Soopafly
5. "Thug Paradise" - Capone-N-Noreaga/Tragedy
6. "Way 2 Saucy" - MAC & A.K./Mac Mall
7. "Get Down With Me" - Amari/Buckshot
8. "Poppin' That Fly...(DJ Clark Kent Remix)" - Oran "Juice" Jones/Stu Large & Camp Lo
9. "Hit 'Em Up" - Master P/TRU/Mercedes
10. "Everlasting" - Outkast
11. "In A Magazine" - 911/Queen Pen
12. "Not Tonight" - Eightball & MJG
13. "It's Alright" - Queen Latifah
14. "What's Going On" - Black Caesar
15. "Go Stetsa I" - Stetsasonic
16. "Crazy Maze" - Des'ree
17. "Route 69" - Quad City DJ's
18. "Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" - Scatman John

External links