Customer Reviews

Where the Money Is

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Paul Newman shines in this implausible, but highly watchable caper flick about three unlikely armored car robbers. It is hard to believe that Newman is 75. He is fitter and more energetic than most men who are fifteen years his junior. He single-handedly elevates this film from mediocrity.

The story is nothing unique. Henry (Newman) is a bank robber who is delivered to a nursing home after a debilitating stroke. His nurse (Linda Fiorentino) suspects he is not the vegetable he appears to be. After she gets him to admit his ruse, she exhorts him to knock off an armored truck with her.

Director Marek Kanievska and writer Max Frye leave numerous gaps in the story. We never discover what tips off Carol that Henry is faking. They didn't do enough character development of Carol and Wayne (Dermot Mulroney) to make it believable that they would want to become criminals, no less hatch the scheme. The idea that Carol was pretending to be the dispatcher for the armored car company from a cell phone in the truck is a flimsy concoction. Even with digital technology, most cell phones in moving vehicles sound like cell phones, and you can hear road noises and the engine running.

Still, despite a lackluster script, the film is enjoyable because of Paul Newman. Newman gives a fantastic rendition of a stroke victim, and his hardened and cantankerous portrayal was marvelous. Linda Fiorentino plays the scheming sex-kitten nurse in one of her better performances. The screen chemistry between Fiorentino and Newman is excellent with undercurrents of sexual desire constantly flaring up between them. Dermot Mulroney is relegated to a role that was essentially a fifth wheel and is adequate as Carol's loser of a husband.

I rated this film a 7/10. It is good entertainment and an opportunity to see a master at work. Newman hasn't lost a beat in a movie career that spans almost a half a century. It is worth seeing for him alone.

This movie is a hoot and of course, Paul Newman, is superb. You watch a movie for entertainment. Don't take everything so seriously!

I like a fun caper movie when all the right elements that go with it are in place. This movie has a plot that flat out wouldn't work, which would be ok in a movie like "Sugar and Spice", where we just care about how the cheerleaders look. But this one is trying to be more serious, and with it should come grittier crime scenarios.

The serious part is to show Paul Newman faking paralysis in order to get to a rest home instead of prison as a means of making an escape. While very unlikely in itself, he plays it seriously. Also played seriously is the attempt by Linda Fiorentino to unmask the charade. The chemistry between the two actors is excellent, both here, and throughout the entire movie, and that's what gets it three stars. Paul Newman shows he's still very much worth seeing, and I hope they give him a few more higher quality films before he packs it in.

But while I liked the interraction between the two main characters, unfortunately everything else is, well, fluff. Dermot Mulroney has a completely thankless role as the husband who feels he's losing his wife to the much older Newman. Since he isn't really a bad person, I don't like that the movie makes him do something to make us dislike him by the end.

But the part I disliked the most was the crime caper they go on. Newman once again shows marvelous talent as an actor as they go on it, but it's the heist they do that doesn't convinvce me for a minute that it would work. Nor does the ending when confronted by the police, nor does the very final few minutes. With the recent quality filming of Elmore Leonard novels, the bar has risen in the way movies need to portray the criminal world.

Linda Fiorentino has proven she can do great work, and Paul Newman is a national treasure. Let's give him the respect he deserves with a few more quality roles.

I picked out this movie for watching because I've seen virtually every movie Paul Newman ever made and the man has been very careful in picking his movie roles over the years. I've never seen him in anything I considered dreadful. That's true once again here. Newman renders a very solid performance as an imprisoned bank robber who manages to cope by pretending he is still mostly paralyzed from a stroke. My grandmother had a severely debilitating stroke. She lingered in a state like Newman's pretend one for a year. Newman must have studied stroke victims because he has the nuances of their behavior down perfectly. Essentially the plot revolves around Newman's nurse discovering he's putting on an act and then talking him into pulling another heist along with her and her somewhat dim but sexy husband. Every scene Newman was in was well worth watching. For example, during the heist another guard starts to question him about the people he knows and this could blow the whole caper. Newman starts talking about religion and putting God into this man's life and in seconds the man has turned tail and fled. This was amazingly true to life and exactly what I would do if someone wanted to talk "God in my Life" with me in the middle of a commercial establishment! Everyone else does a good job in this film but it is the movie it is because of Newman. I can't give it 5 stars because the movie as a whole isn't something that is going to knock you out where you want to see it over and over again as one of your all time favorites. For a night's viewing at home though, this could be just what you need.

After only five movies in the '90s, this is Paul Newman's first movie of the new decade. This week Mr. Newman is turning 76 years old. Hard to believe considering how sharp and lively his performance here is.

The movie itself is moderately entertaining, but I think the problem with it lies in the script. I won't reveal plot details, but I will say that there are a number of plot turns that are just a little too convenient to be convincing. What makes this worth a rental is Newman's easy-going performance. Linda Fiorentino turns in a solid performance-- she too is above the material.

As I said in the review title, I think just about anything Newman does these days is worth checking out.

I've been a Paul Newman fan all my life (in fact, I'm only two years older than his film debut, in 'The Silver Chalice'), so whenever he appears onscreen, it is a cause of celebration for me...at least until I see whether or not the film is any good!

'Where the Money Is' gets a mixed review from me; as a character study, it's terrific, with Newman combining the cranky, elderly gruffness that has become a staple of his recent films, with that charming, still boyish smile that for a moment lifts the years, and harkens back to 'Butch Cassidy' and 'Cool Hand Luke'. Add to this a wonderful performance by Linda Fiorentino, as a small-town girl who deserved a chance to grow, but ended up tied into a mundane life with a dull husband. She captures a quiet desperation and desire to 'live' that most of us can identify with, and also conveys a sexiness and passion that no one else in town even comes CLOSE to!

Where the movie lets me down is in the routine plot. One would think that a 'master' criminal like Newman would come up with something more creative that an armored car heist, even if he WAS saddled with novice crooks Fiorentino and Mulroney (who, as the husband, plays another of the 'not very bright' characters that have become his trademark). The planning and execution of the heist and subsequent robberies is so 'by-the-numbers' and routine that it lacks any real suspense (even the 'glitches' are predictable!).

What it all comes down to is this; if you are a Newman fan (like me), and enjoy watching a screen legend show a new generation of actors and audiences what defines a 'star', 'Where the Money Is' certainly deserves a spot in your film library! If, however, you are looking for a great 'heist' movie, pick up 'Entrapment', 'The Thomas Crown Affair', or 'The Getaway', instead!

Linda Fiorentino plays a prom queen who finds herself working in a nursing home--and something less than satisfied with her life. Paul Newman arrives at the home in shackles, temporarily released from prison because he was feigning a stroke. A notorious bank robber, Newman's character is shrouded in intrigue. Though he's a dangerous character, Fiorentino's character, Carol, starts spending a lot of time alone with him.

Carol is a sexy and smart woman. (This is the first of Fiorentino's movies I remember seeing. Sh'es incredibly attractive, and will have to look for her in other movies.) One of Carol's causes for displeasure is her husband, Wayne, played by infrequent star Dermot Mulroney.

The plot plays out out very well, though the beginning stumbles a bit. The acting isn't great, though the charismatic and smooth Newman mostly carries the film. While the story at times is inplausible, it's a very watchable and light movie.

What I really enjoyed was the aftermath: while the bank caper movie is a bit formula, this incarnation is twisted with life-purpose and satisfaction crisis storylines, and an interesting resolution. The story comes off as a spirise to those who'd take it as cookie-cutter for the genre.

The cameara work is great, and the production quality is outstanding. The audio is a little muddy, but fits its genere very well.

I really enjoyed this movie. It wasn't just the actors in it either. The story was fun to watch even if it was a little simple. In this drama comedy Paul Newman still has that great ability to act and really shows it off in this lead role. He plays an old thief that fakes a stroke to get out of prison. When his plan of collecting some old cash he had stashed away falls through, Carol (played by Linda Fiorentino) convinces him to hi-jack an armored car. This movie is fun to watch and in certain parts really makes you laugh. Also in this film, Dermot Mulroney, who plays Fiorentino's husband. If you are a Paul Newman fan then pick this one up. But even if you're not then you should give it a try. You might like it.

Paul Newman's late in life comedy. Linda Fiorentino also turns in a funny & quirky performance. Beautiful photography.

"Where the money is" is a movie which rises above the rest in its witty, well-executed plot, brilliant acting. Paul Newman does a superb job doing nothing. He acts as an aging bank robber who fakes having had a stroke to get out of prison. At first, his plan works, until his nurse notices some inconsistencies. She resorts to wild ventures to get him to admit to faking the stroke (such as lap dancing). Nothing works until she pushes him off a pier into a river, when he is forced to swim. For some perverted reason, she takes a liking to him and his bank robbing. So the two of them, and the nurse's husband team up to rob an armoured car. I won't spoil the ending - whether they get away with it or not - but I will say this movie is definitely worth watching. It has a well thought out script although at times it seems that they get away too easily with their robberies. Comical scenes are intertwined with serious advice on how to rob a bank, rendering a truly worthwhile Hollywood production (for once).