The Out-Laws is a new action-comedy film on Netflix that plays around with the new groom about to meet his in-laws for the first-time concept. Except here, the groom, Owen, starts to have serious doubts about who his in-laws actually are and even suspects them of being bank robbers. Although there is nothing unique or even out of the ordinary in the film, The Out-Laws is entertaining enough for a casual watch.
Spoilers Alert
‘The Out-Laws’ Plot Summary: What Is The Film About?
Owen Browning is a goofy, simple-minded man who always likes taking safe decisions and choices in life, very apparent from his elaborate set-up of the seating arrangements of his upcoming wedding. Owen has been with his fiancée, Parker McDermott, for quite a long time now, and the couple are preparing for their wedding ceremony, about to take place in a few days. His parents, Neil and Margie, are uptight and judgmental individuals who are still not approving of Parker because of her profession as a yoga studio owner, which is equivalent to stripping, according to them. Neil and Margie are ones to fear the loss of reputation because of silly reasons, and they firmly believe that people who drink during the daytime are bound to be criminals and worse. On the other hand, Owen has never met his in-laws, for Parker’s parents supposedly have been living with and helping the Yanomami tribe in the Amazon Forest.
It is, therefore, quite a surprise, even for Parker, when her parents inform her that they will be arriving soon and attending the wedding. Owen is very excited to finally meet them, though, and he even sets up a lunch between the two families. Parker’s parents, Billy and Lilly, finally arrive at the house and are evidently just the opposite of Owen and his parents. The McDermotts are adventurous and reckless, always looking for new thrills, and they even take Parker along for sessions of skydiving and tattooing. Believing that the marriage ceremony needed to be perfect now that every family member would be present, Owen looks for old photographs of Parker with her parents. Unable to find any, he contacts the local storage space facility, for he knows that Billy and Lilly have a unit at the place. While Owen asks to access the locker, the name McDermott is immediately recognized by the owner of the place, and he seems to turn down the groom’s request. Instead, the storage space owner calls up a woman and informs her that somebody has been asking about the McDermott unit. The woman being very evidently a hardened criminal who does not hesitate to kill people, Owen does not yet know that a grave danger is headed his way.
What Is The Real Identity Of Parker’s Parents?
In his professional life, Owen works as the manager at a local bank branch, and his colleague-friends Tyree and Marisol are equally as goofy as him. The day after Billy and Lilly come to town, Parker is unable to get an off from work, so Owen decides to take a leave and accompany his in-laws. Although Owen had some activities planned for the McDermotts, they find it too boring and instead take him on an adventurous day out. After skydiving and getting tattoos, although Owen is too scared of the pain to get one, the three go to a pub for drinks. Still believing that he is just bonding with his exciting in-laws, Owen does not realize that Billy and Lilly get him drunk and fish out crucial details about his bank’s security. Next morning, the man arrives at the bank, still hungover from the previous night’s drinking, just when two masked robbers enter the branch and hold the place hostage. Although Owen manages to trigger the alarm, informing the police, he is found by one of the robbers and made to open up the security vault. As the robber cleans out the entire locker, Owen starts to have the feeling that he probably knows this individual. From the smell of a very particular cologne to the reaction to Owen accidentally tripping against his heel, the masked robber seems exactly like Billy McDermott.
While this thought that his parents-in-law are the ones who robbed his bank keeps growing inside Owen’s head, he is initially disbelieving and cautious of them. Eventually, he tells his colleagues and also his parents about this, even though he is not entirely sure whether his guess is correct. As the police begin their investigation into the robbery at the bank, a detective by the name of Roger Oldham is appointed to the case. In his interrogation of Owen, Oldham states that a group named the “Ghost Bandits” could be the perpetrators in the robbery. The Ghost Bandits were a notorious criminal gang who had made a name for themselves through ridiculous bank robberies, with more than 100 banks robbed in total. Nobody knew their real identities owing to the fact that they always masked up for their jobs. Although the group had not been active in some time, this robbery, according to Oldham, is their return to form. From here on, Roger Oldham becomes an active member of the plot, as the man reveals that he had dedicated a lot of time trying to catch the Ghost Bandits throughout his career. He even has a personal desire to bring the gang down, for he had lost his personal relationship with his wife, Sheryl (now his ex-wife), because of spending all his time trying to catch the Ghost Bandits.
Owen contemplates telling the detective about his suspicion, as that would also be appropriate with how his character is. However, Owen gets spooked by one small piece of information, which Tyree reminds him—that he could also be held as an accomplice to the robbery. According to Owen’s hunch, Billy and Lilly had got him drunk during their night out and had then made him speak about how to get into the security vault in his bank. This means that he himself, in an inebriated state, told the robbers the passcodes and how to break into the vault, meaning that Owen also could be held responsible for the act. It is this fear that makes the man keep his suspicions to himself when talking with Detective Oldham, and also the fact that the McDermotts are also present at the scene. Eventually, though, Owen speaks out about his suspicion to Parker, much to the woman’s surprise and disbelief. On the other side, it is revealed to us that Billy and Lilly were indeed the ones to have robbed Owen’s bank, for the couple is indeed part of the notorious Ghost Bandits gang.
Why Did Billy And Lilly Rob Owen’s Bank?
While the McDermotts are confirmed as the bank robbers, the question of why they did so becomes important. Billy and Lilly had actually been professional bank robbers for many years now, ever since Parker was a young girl. But when the girl eventually grew up, the parents were concerned about her safety, owing to the fact that they were dangerous criminals who were wanted by the law. Billy and Lilly wanted to quit the gang and the profession, but their third colleague, a woman named Rehan, was not supportive of such a decision. Instead of waiting around to make Rehan understand, Billy and Lilly had pulled off their last bank robbery and had run off with the stolen money of 1 million dollars.
For all this time between then and now, the McDermotts had been living in hiding, and the story of them living in the Amazonian Forest helping out some tribe was just a fake cover. The parents had actually made Parker believe this, too, for they were now not only running against the law but also against their old colleague, Rehan. In this while, Rehan’s notoriety had grown as a criminal, and it seems like she was the one who always made the plan for the bank robberies, and Billy and Lilly would execute them before all taking equal shares from the loot. Since her partners had gone missing with the 1 million dollars, Rehan had all the safety measures in place just in case they returned. She, too, knew that the McDermotts had a unit at the local storage space, and so Rehan had ordered the owner to inform her whenever anyone asked to access it. Therefore, when Owen contacts the place to access the space, Rehan is informed, and she comes into the scene in order to look for her old friends.
As the couple had gone missing for these many years with the money, Rehan was now demanding that they return her 5 million dollars. While the original amount was just 1 million, the criminal woman was charging the rest extra as penalty for having crossed her. After returning to town, Billy and Lilly soon ran across Rehan at the bar when they went out drinking with Owen and realized that they could no longer run or hide. It was to give back the money they owed to her that the couple robbed Owen’s bank, looted a million dollars, and took it to Rehan. However, now with the amount being demanded increased massively, Billy and Lilly have no option but to ask for help.
‘The Out-Laws’ Ending Explained
On the other side, Owen had been caught by the police detective Oldham along with weapons and ammunition in the trunk of his car, which suspiciously tied him to the robbery at his bank. In reality, the car had been recently gifted to him by his in-laws, and now finally, Owen breaks his resolute self and informs Oldham about his doubts. He had also, by now, followed the McDermotts around to Rehan’s estate and had overheard the demands that the criminal woman had made. Knowing that he was ratting out his fiancée’s parents to the police, Owen reluctantly wears a wiretap to make Billy and Lilly admit to their crimes, but the plan turns into an utter mess. As the whole family goes to a cake shop to select the cake for their ceremony, Rehan and her gang also arrive at the place and manage to kidnap Parker. Even though the police detective Oldham is also present, he cannot do much to stop it.
Now, with their beloved daughter kidnapped and in grave danger, Billy and Lilly finally have to come clean to Owen about who they really are. Despite everything, Owen now determinately starts planning to save Parker anyhow possible, and he is even ready to loot banks for it. Although they were not quite impressed by Owen earlier, Billy and Lilly have a gradual change of heart because of this, as they realize that Owen genuinely loves Parker and would do anything for her. The three then attempt to rob a bank, but the plan goes wayward, and they can ultimately gather only 60 dollars from the entire heist. With no other option left, they decide to rob the Atlas Reserve Bank, an establishment known for its high security and its manager, Phoebe King.
Owen informs his parents that Billy is making him rob his own bank once again and that they should not tell anyone about this, only to ensure that his parents would definitely contact Oldham and tell him about it. Therefore, as Oldham and the rest of the police unit wait in front of Owen’s bank, the protagonist goes over to Atlas Reserve along with the McDermotts. Posing to be the helpless bank manager whose establishment recently got robbed, Owen asks Phoebe King to show him around the safety vault at her bank. The boastful Phoebe does so, as Owen keeps a mental note of every step of the process, and right then, Billy and Lilly walk into the bank and hold it hostage. Amidst all the commotion, Owen slips into the vault and locks it from the inside. Once the coast is clear, the man loots all the money inside the vault and exits the place to drive towards Rehan’s meeting spot.
Here, Owen hands over all of the money and asks Rehan to release Parker. But the devilish woman obviously has other plans, as she intends to kill the young couple. Just then, Owen mistakenly fires his gun, believing it to be a fake water gun, and manages to shoot all the baddies, including Rehan, dead. With Rehan now out of the scene, the five million dollars are no longer needed, and Owen rushes back to the Atlas Reserve bank. By the time the entire commotion is cleared, and the police open up the vault with Phoebe King’s help, Owen has managed to re-enter and place all the money back onto the shelves. Deceiving Phoebe and the police, Owen pretends to have hidden inside the vault for all this time and, therefore, does not get caught for any of the crimes. Billy and Lilly, on the other side, get themselves caught by Detective Oldham, as they now want to serve the punishment for their crimes and get it over with.
The day of Owen and Parker’s marriage ceremony finally arrives, and all the family members also gather to celebrate the occasion. Although Parker’s parents are supposed to be in prison, Billy and Lilly have managed to convince Oldham to bring them to their daughter’s marriage. Oldham’s ex-wife, Sheryl, also attends the party as the detective’s date, for the two have also reunited. As the happy ceremony goes on and the end credits to The Out-Laws roll, Owen gives Billy a paperclip hidden inside a piece of cake, with which he can get rid of the handcuffs tying him and Lilly to Oldham. Owen also mentions that he has left the keys for the handcuffs inside the car, as he must have stolen the keys from the detective during their awkward dance, and it becomes very clear that he is enthusiastically helping his parents-in-law to escape.
