Twenty Bucks (1993)

This multi-character comedy follows the path of a single twenty-dollar bill in a city neighborhood, focusing on various holders and their intertwining stories, including two convenience store robbers, an estranged father and daughter, and a young newlywed couple.Starring: Elizabeth Shue, Steve Buscemi, BrendanFraser, ChristopherLloyd, Linda Hunt, Spalding Gray.

cool concept

One of my writing friends asked me if I had seen this movie after they read a review copy of my book "The Twenty Dollar Bill." I had not, and was very glad they asked me. This movie has the same basic concept I used, of telling a story by following the path of a single twenty dollar bill, changing viewpoint as the bill moves from person to person and place to place.

As explained in one of the special features, the movie differed from the original script written in the 1930s, making the plots and characters interweave more. I think that concept works well in the film, although I would like to find and read the original script.

A grand cast, and an enjoyable film. February 13, 2008

Twenty Bucks

This was a good film. It was more of an independent film,so it probably went unnoticed by lots of people. It is a portrait of how money changes hands, and who's hands it changes to. It is a series of little stories and a twenty dollar bill is passed around through all of the character's. Definitely worth a look for anyone interested in short intelligent stories. August 14, 2007

Great movie, but the DVD is fake widescreen

You know how you often want to replace the old VHS tape of one of your favorite movies with a crisper, more permanent DVD copy? In this case, mostly forget it. Why? Because the DVD is not true widescreen or letterbox at all. In fact, when you compare it to the VHS tape, which plays full screen on your TV, the VHS tape actually has way more picture information on it than the letterboxed DVD! The image of "Twenty Bucks" on DVD is, in fact, severely slashed off at the bottom (as well as slashed off slightly less so at the top) in some misguided attempt to make it look like a widescreen movie, with those blank black bars above and below and all. In reality, about one-third of the movie image is missing on the DVD, which is just the opposite of what you usually expect when a movie is finally transferred to disc. This is a cruel defacement of an independent film masterpiece originally backed by Robert Redford's Sundance people. One hopes that Mr. Redford's team could help get this charming film back into true format, with all the film image as shot back on display again. This DVD does contain, however, some good "extras" and featurette material in which you meet the director and screenwriters and other people behind the scenes. They do appreciate how worthy a successor they have made to the great "Tales of Manhattan" (a 1942 film), which used a tuxedo tails jacket rather than a twenty-dollar bill as the object passing from one person to another, creating a very funny and often heartbreaking anthology of stories. [Note: The actress Melora Walters plays two characters in "Twenty Bucks" -- the Stripper and, later, the Funeral Director -- and in each of her scenes she amusingly gets to say the one-word line, "Whatever."] October 18, 2005

DVD: It's about frickin' time!

I've eagerly awaited the release of Twenty Bucks on DVD for several years, and am overjoyed that it's finally here. With so much schlock that gets shoveled onto digitial discs these days it's amazing that such a quality flick took so long.

Twenty Bucks is a series of disjointed vignettes, united by their involvement of the same twenty dollar bill. We follow the double-sawbuck from its initial withdrawal from an automatic teller up through its eventual end. The hapless bill gets shoved inside a fish, stuffed in a stripper's G-string, and used to predict the lottery. Along the way, it touches the lives of several diverse characters, portrayed by an ensemble cast that clearly enjoyed their work. Especially noteworthy are Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi (who is required by law to appear in all of these sorts of movies) as an experienced criminal and his somewhat bewildered apprentice. Some characters appear for a single scene, while others lose the bill and then return to us when the bill returns to them, to tie up their storylines.

It's an enjoyable ride, funny at times, poignant at others, and it deserves a spot in every movie lover's media rack. June 18, 2005

Purportless

"Twenty Bucks" chronicles the journey of a twenty dollar bill, traveling from person to person until it finally reaches its original owner.
After reading about the movie's plot, I expected it to be at least somewhat exhilarating. Sadly, its most exciting part is when a man, in the process of standing up, inadvertently whacks a woman with his luggage.
I don't know if I have ever seen a more pointless film. I've searched for some kind of meaning or lesson that it could have, and I cannot find one. This film failed to impress me. July 16, 2003

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