"Where the Money Is" is a nicely done movie that everyone should go to in order to feel good about themselves. Especially if you happen to endorse a lifestyle of amorality. The film stars Paul Newman as an old bank robber who fakes being brain-dead in order to escape his life sentence in prison. Because the prison hospitals are so crowded, he's shipped off to an old folks' home in a backwater town.
I suspect that the movie was actually directed by Paul Newman speaking through either a hand puppet or one of the Jim Henson Muppets.
There are a lot of good things about this film. The sets are absolutely wonderful. The inside of the old folks' home is depressing, oppressive and antiseptic all at the same time. The house interiors are made up of faded blues and tans as are the outside shots of the small town locations. I completely believed that this is the way life is in a small town. In fact, the only bright colors in the whole movie are the briefly seen neon signs of a strip club and the two cars that the main characters drive around in
Which brings me to the second part of the film that was nice -- the cars. While the director could have chosen to use boring cars, instead the audience is presented with a classic Mustang and an equally classic GTO in solid, primary hues. They're really sweet cars. I used to have a white '76 Camaro until my younger brother wrecked it recently and the inclusion of the classic cars really helped me relate to the characters and worry about what was going to happen to them and their vehicles.
On top of the look of the movie, there is a lot of interesting camerawork that makes the audience feel the same claustrophobia that the lead characters are supposed to be experiencing due to their boring small-town life.
The acting in the movie is -- interesting. I'm not saying it's bad, but it's no stretch for the actors either. Paul Newman plays the typical Paul Newman role. Dermot Mulroney, whose character's name is Wayne, plays typical Dermot Mulroney.
The other main character and arguably the protagonist of the film is Wayne's wife Carol, who is played by Linda Fiorentino. Since I've never seen Ms. Fiorentino in any other films, I don't know whether or not she was acting like herself but I would lay decent odds that she was.
Not withstanding that, she is absolutely the best thing about the entire movie. She's not only gorgeous, but she actually makes her character come alive and have some depth rather than leaving it as a caricature of the bored small-town girl as could so easily have happened.
Unfortunately, while there are many good points to the film and even some great moments, there are also a lot of problems. For one thing, the camerawork, which in some places is fantastic, is also overdone at an equal number of points.
Then there's the fact that the moral of the story seems to be -- if you're bored, rob a bank and get on the run, it'll make everything better! Not that I have a problem with amorality in a movie, but it's particularly heavy-handed here, and I don't feel that it's justified.
The script is only decent. The plot is full of clichs beyond just the characters and while the ending is amusing, it's exactly what everyone expected from the very start.
The most offensive part of the movie is the beginning. The film opens with a black-and-white flashback to Carol and Wayne's high school days. Bleah. This is supposed to be background and contrast with their current lifestyle but instead has no real function in the film and just sits there, almost dead, but still pulsing and oozing fluid.
To sum up, "Where the Money Is" is a nice, amusing film that's occassionally vaguely suspenseful. If you like Paul Newman, you should go watch it. Or if you want to watch a tame crime flick, it's also a good choice. But don't go expecting to be thrilled out of your seat, and definitely leave your brain at home.
