Funny Money

Buy This Item Funny Money by Starz / Anchor Bay  Available from Amazon  $12.99  on 11-29-2008     Leslie Greif directs this adaptation of Ray Cooney's hit British play, a throwback farce about mistaken identity. Chevy Chase plays Henry Perkins, a listless late-middle-aged executive in a wax fruit company; his wife, Carol (Penelope Ann Miller), is similarly bored, a struggling sculptor and housewife in Hoboken, NJ. On his way home from work to a surprise birthday party Carol is throwing, he accidentally switches briefcases with a Russian mobster. He opens the suitcase at a local bar and discovers five million dollars inside. He rushes home and tries to arrange a flight to Barcelona for Carol and him so they can take the money and run. Detective Sergeant Genero (Armand Assante) shows up later; he saw Henry at the bar and is suspicious of his actions. The Perkins, along with their friends Vic and Gina Johnson (Christopher McDonald and Alex Meneses), concoct an elaborate plan to fool the detective, which is only complicated by Carol getting sloppy drunk, the arrival of a homicide detective (Kevin Sussman), a famous gallery owner (Rebecca Wisocky), Henry's boss (Robert Loggia), a frustrated standup comic cabbie ( Guy Torry), two more identical briefcases, and the party guests. <P>Features:Widescreen Presentation (1.78:1/16x9) • All About The Money • Looking For Comedy In Romania • Behind-The-Scenes • Poster & Still Gallery Reader Reviews 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.

Funny Money Available from Amazon Price: $12.99 Updated on 11-29-2008.

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