Finder's Fee (2001)

Filled with Surprising Plot Twists

Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake

What would you do if you found a wallet with a $6 million winning lottery ticket inside?

Erik Palladino decides to keep the ticket, but his problem is that, before he realized what he had, he'd called the owner and told him that he had his wallet.

Now, that man (James Earl Jones), as well as Erik's poker buddies are at his apartment and Erik has to figure a way to keep the ticket from them.

Another problem: Every week, the buddies toss their lottery tickets into the pot and winner take all.

This clever thriller, written and directed by Jeff Probst, is filled with surprising plot twists, including a final one that's a whopper.

Ryan Reynolds, Dash Mihok and Robert Forster co-star.

© Michael B. Druxman. author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008) October 24, 2008

Finder's Fee

The story starts out with a young man finding a wallet on the street while considering marriage to the lady he loves. He calls the only number he can find in the wallet that is the supposed to be the brother of the owner. But then he finds a lottery ticket in it and hears the numbers for the winning ticket. The ticket in the wallet. So what would you do if you found a wallet on the street and it had a lottery ticket worth six million dollars in it? Then his three friends join him for an evening of poker. When a man, played by James Earl Jones, rings the bell and says he is the owner of the wallet, the finder decides to swap the ticket for his losing ticket. The wallet recoverer is invited to play cards by his friends and the the police arrive searching the building and forbiding anyone to leave.

The young man starts to panic wondering if the wallet owner knows he swapped tickets. Finally one of his friends realizes what he has done and takes action against the man that came to recover the wallet. An action that may lead to a life or death result. When a cop arrives at the scene he is given the lottery ticket to make sure the right thing is done. But then at the end we see another ticket given to the man recovering the wallet. The twists and turns in the story make it rather interesting and I enjoyed it. Good quality DVD with decent replayability. If you enjoyed this be sure to catch "Millions (2005)" and "It Could Happen to You (1994)". - C. Luster July 21, 2008

A very poor effort by a novice movie maker....

It's amazing that this much acting talent could be shoe-horned into such a bad movie. I don't see how it could have yielded six 5-star reviews (The Godfather it ain't).

Using its better scenes, you could put together a trailer for this movie that would make you want to see it. And you may be entertained through much of the movie. But when the story becomes quite nonsensical in the final minutes of the movie, you will feal cheated and wish that you had watched something else. At least that's how everyone in my family felt when we watched it. May 25, 2006

Wonderful Film by Jeff Probst

Wonderul film by first time director Jeff Probst. Matthew Lillard shines again, and Ryan Reynolds is funny and effective as well. It really is a fun popcorn film on a Friday or Saturday night. March 4, 2006

!!-->THE<--!! best film you've never seen

Not a single bad comment for this movie other than it's rediculous it was never released in theaters. Erik Palladino (ER,U-571,Dead and Breakfast), Ryan Reynolds (Van Wilder, Amittyville Horror, Waiting) in his best performance to date in my opinion, Matthew Lillard (Scream, SLC Punk, Wing Commander) and Dash Mihok (The Day After Tomorrow) are perfect in their parts as 4 friends who play for lottery tickets in their weekly (or whatever) poker game. Of all the big hollywood movies previously mentioned, I would say all of these actors put their best foot forward on this one. Writer/Director Jeff Probst (of Survivor fame) seemingly has a knack for perfectly written thrillers. Don't expect alot of cursing (there is a little), and certainly dont expect alot of action or violence...and even without these elements, Finder's Fee grabs your interest and won't let go until the unexpected, shocking finale (which contains the only scene of violence). February 27, 2006

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