Goofball buddies on the road or on the run have long been a comedy staple in cinema, regardless of the country. Yaji and Kita, the bumbling heroes of Jippensha Ikku’s early 19th-century picaresque novel “Shank’s Mare,” have inspired many film versions. Among Hollywood examples are Harry and Lloyd — played by Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey, respectively — from the 1994 cult classic “Dumb and Dumber,” though it is hard to tell which was which.
“Two Outs Bases Loaded,” a vapid action comedy starring Mizui Itagaki and Alan Abe, the latter from the boy band 7Order, would seem to be in the same knockabout line. Scripted by Eiji Uchida and directed by Hirokazu Fujisawa, the film follows the numbskull misadventures of Ichi (Abe) and Hachi (Itagaki), two inseparable pals who were once stars of their high school baseball team but saw their dreams of triumph at a national tournament derailed due to a scandal.
When the story begins, 10 years have passed and the boys, now scruffy druggies, are trying to get high on cocaine — and failing since they have mistakenly purchased white flour instead of the real thing. (No one in the film ingests any illegal substance, save for one character who takes a puff of what may or may not be a joint.)