Where the Money Is

Rating:
Summary: Newman shines
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Where the Money is DVD
Review: This is, of course, an excellent movie. What makes it so, is the tension provided by the theme of wise, patient elder versus impatient untested youth. Paul Newman plays "Henry" a convict who scams his way out of prison by faking a stroke. This, we learn, is no simple con: He had to endure months of scrutiny, including letting a cockroach make a trip around his face. Henry learns all he can about mind control in the prison library and masters the faking of being stroked-out. Motionless. Heart-beat only. No reaction.

He finally gets out to a nursing home, meets Carol (Linda Fiorentino), who catches on that Henry is faking it. To prove he's faking, she has to resort to extreme measures. Soon they're partners in crime, with Carol's motivation being that all she's done is work in a nursing home, she hasn't really *lived* yet. Along for the ride is boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), a standard sort of young guy, whose trademark is inexperience and panic.

The scene in the food store is a critical moment, and is done brilliantly: Henry, mid-heist, posing as an armored-car pick-up man, runs into two shopping cops. They start asking one-too-many-innocent questions. Wayne sees this, and starts to panic. Old hand Henry quickly diverts the conversation to religion ("Are you right with Jesus?") The cops click into the concept that here is a harmless old guard about to rope them into a long conversation about God, and *they* disengage from Henry. A brilliant move by an old hand, totally un-doable by a kid like Wayne.

This movie has it all: great characters, great script, and philosophical food-for thought, to boot. Buy it, love it.

This movie is so great, that the lack of DVD extras (commentary , etc) is forgivable. The DVD's quality overall is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: Where the Money is DVD
Review: This is, of course, an excellent movie. What makes it so, is the tension provided by the theme of wise, patient elder versus impatient untested youth. Paul Newman plays "Henry" a convict who scams his way out of prison by faking a stroke. This, we learn, is no simple con: He had to endure months of scrutiny, including letting a cockroach make a trip around his face. Henry learns all he can about mind control in the prison library and masters the faking of being stroked-out. Motionless. Heart-beat only. No reaction.

He finally gets out to a nursing home, meets Carol (Linda Fiorentino), who catches on that Henry is faking it. To prove he's faking, she has to resort to extreme measures. Soon they're partners in crime, with Carol's motivation being that all she's done is work in a nursing home, she hasn't really *lived* yet. Along for the ride is boyfriend Wayne (Dermot Mulroney), a standard sort of young guy, whose trademark is inexperience and panic.

The scene in the food store is a critical moment, and is done brilliantly: Henry, mid-heist, posing as an armored-car pick-up man, runs into two shopping cops. They start asking one-too-many-innocent questions. Wayne sees this, and starts to panic. Old hand Henry quickly diverts the conversation to religion ("Are you right with Jesus?") The cops click into the concept that here is a harmless old guard about to rope them into a long conversation about God, and *they* disengage from Henry. A brilliant move by an old hand, totally un-doable by a kid like Wayne.

This movie has it all: great characters, great script, and philosophical food-for thought, to boot. Buy it, love it.

This movie is so great, that the lack of DVD extras (commentary , etc) is forgivable. The DVD's quality overall is excellent.

Rating:
Summary: kansas needs to lighten up.
Review: This movie is a hoot and of course, Paul Newman, is superb. You watch a movie for entertainment. Don't take everything so seriously!

Rating:
Summary: Ok
Review: This, was ok I saw this in theatres well Paul Newmen is, a good actor well it was good.... Enjoy