Caffeinated Clint
This one should’ve stayed a play – and Chevy needn’t have done that either.
Chevy Chase, Penelope Ann Miller, Armand Assante, Robert Loggia, Christopher McDonald, Alex Meneses, Guy Torry, Kevin Sussman.
I remember going to see the last “Vacation” movie – “Vegas Vacation” (the first one not to have ‘National Lampoons’ in its title – in the mid-90s and thinking that Chevy Chase had hit rock bottom. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either – it just seemed cheap and desperate.
I was wrong. “Funny Money” is cheap and desperate. “Funny Money” is Chevy at rock bottom. And unlike the last – I’m assuming it’s the last anyway? – “Vacation” movie, this is terrible. Bloody terrible.
Chevy plays Henry Perkins, a mild-mannered accountant who accidentally trades briefcases with another man, to find out that there’s a million dollars inside. You can guess the rest… but don’t for a minute think it’s going to half as fun as “Brewster’s Millions”.
You can’t watch the unfunny comedy without feeling damn sorry for Chevy. He was great. In the 80s, he was the comedy ‘go-to man’ – who can forget “Fletch”? “Vacation”? “Spies Like Us”? – even his weaker efforts were still reasonable. This is just atrocious though. The man isn’t funny… and I don’t know whether it’s because of the script (it’s based on a play, so the screenplay is written as such) or because he just doesn’t care for the material but needs the cash. The production values of the film are just as bad though – it looks like a cheaply-shot porno. I don’t think I’ve seen a film look this cheap (Romania stood in for New York) since well, whatever Shannon Tweed did last.
This one should’ve stayed a play – and Chevy needn’t have done that either.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
