Customer Reviews

Funny Money

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a fan of Chevy Chase and he is good in this movie. Miller is good too. All the acting is good. The problem with the movie is plot. It is his birthday, he finds the money, his wife gets "discovered" as an artist, and the wife is having a surprised birthday party for him. So many small things to wrong in the movie to keep the certain characters in the plot, it makes the whole thing uncomfortable. It is like a "Fawlty Towers" episode on steroids without the laughs. There a few chuckles in the movie, but it just doesn't justify the frenetic pacing. Penelope does the best she can with a strange role. She plays a depressed drunk for most of the movie. Chevy hits his part just right, but he isn't given much to work with. Even before I read that it was a movie made from a play, I knew it was a movie made from a play. It had a claustrophobic feel. Most of the action takes place within the house.

The movie frustrated me more than made me laugh. It just was not funny.

This movie was developed from a stage play and shows it. Unlike most movies adapted from plays (think Harvey here) the director kept most of the action in a limited confine, the brownstone in New York.

I made it through the first 45 minutes or so then left it to play while I went and cleaned the kitchen. Nothing I heard of the remaining movie made me come in to watch anything happening on the screen. It became just background noise.

Chevy Chase and Penelope Ann Miller seemed to be trying their best to rescue this dog, but even good actors can't work with poor material! Bypass this and choose something else to see either of these stars.

I was lucky enough to see this film shown before the public at the Sarasota Film Festival. I'm glad I got to see it with Chevy Chase in the audience. It was worth it. This movie is very funny! It is great to see Chevy Chase back on the screen. The film is well done for a low budget and full of animated characters that will have you laughing hysterically!

In January of 2007 this movie debuted in limited release on four screens, pulled in less than $2000, and hopefully those few people demanded a refund.

The director and the cast should have paniced sometime during filming when it became clear that the movie had only one joke, not amusing the first time around, but repeated over and over in every scene until I finally had to give up on this film in disgust.

I liked Chevy Chase early in his career in TV and film, but his talents have dissipated even more quickly than his hair. He walks thru this film with no flair or style whatsoever. This has been all too common in some of his later efforts.

A sad waste of time for everyone involved, especially the viewer.

Some things just sound better with a British accent, and that's the problem with this American adaptation of the farcical play by Ray Cooney. Obviously intended for the British stage and audience, the plot is about the complications that arise when the lead character Henry Perkins (an ancient looking Chevy Chase) accidentally switches briefcases with a tough-looking guy on the train, and discovers that he is the new custodian of a large and undoubtedly illegal fortune in notes and bearer bonds.

Perkins decides to take the money and run, but his young wife (Penelope Ann Miller) remains unconvinced. The arrival of an undercover cop (Armand Assante), and a comedian moonlighting as a cab driver (or vice versa), and then their friends Vic and Betty, followed by another police officer, and then even more minor characters, leads to an amazing and absolutely befuddling sequence of variable identities, assumption-leaping and confusion that could only come from the pen of funnyman Cooney.

What the film lacked was the dry and bawdy (yet always hysterically funny) British comedic inflections and delivery, which made some of the truly great moments fall rather flat. The cast does their best given the Americanization of the plot, but this would have been a heck of a movie with a British cast. This version - 3.5 stars




Amanda Richards, August 18, 2007

Adapted from the stage version, this comedy brings back the hilarity that Chevy Chase is well known for. When an ordinary family man who works at a plastic fruit factory switches brief cases with a mobster (accidentally), things get complicated fast! He's trying to get his reluctant wife on a plane, pay off a nosy detective, and keep a house full of guests in the dark about the truth - all on his birthday!

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Great film. Very fast paced and funny, although it starts off a little slow, but once it gets going, it takes off. Great supporting cast that provide brilliant chemistry for Chase in his first starring role in years. It's based on a London play and reminds me a little of The Pink Panther films with all the wild what-could-go-wrong-next bits. If you're expecting another "Vacation" film, this is not that. This is much smarter. This isn't the funniest film you'll see, but I give it a 5 because it's Chevy Chase and he's finally back!

Only Chevy Chase could get away with this superb comedy. He is perfectly cast in this clever, witty and crafty masterpiece that went from the stage to the screen. For that matter, the entire cast is excellent including Penelope Ann Miller, Joanne Rubino, Rebecca Wisocky, Armand Assante, Robert Loggia, Christopher McDonald, Alex Meneses, Kevin Sussman and Guy Torry. What would you do with $5 million in dirty money? Find out what Chevy does with it. Great comedy...a must for Chevy fans.

Don't listen to the Amazon.com review of this movie.

I don't own this movie but I'm watching it on cable right now and just came here to purchase.

If you know anything about the old screwball comedies of the 30's where manic paced things happen all at once within one household for the whole picture, you will see this is a well done homage to that genre.

Surprisingly, this is one of Chevy Chase's funniest movies since he stopped doing drugs.

3 of 5 stars for the mature comedy movie Funny Money. Surprising to see Chevy Chase as a mature man when I remember him as a young man on SNL. The comedy in this movie is mostly verbal and situational rather than comedy movements (of which Chase is so well known). The plot is rather simple: an accidential exchange of identical briefcases leaves Chase with $$$$$$ rather than a sandwitch. Alot of comedy about this discovery between Chase, his wife and some family friends. More comedy about those who lost the money and their search to find it. And when the two groups find each other ... oh yeah, funny.

Again, this is not a slap-stick comedy. It is well written with great dialog, situations and events. This is an easy on the brain movie and is entertaining. I do recommend it.