Funny Money (2006)

Good Slapstick comedy makes a comeback!

While watching this movie I had no ideal that this comedy had been previously made by the British, had never heard of it at all, so I watched this movie not comparing it to the British version. Nor will I. My first thoughts were, "this is great, Chevy Chase back to his old slapstick comedy that we hadn't seen in several years. I thought the entire movie was hysterically funny. My husband who has a very dry since of humor and hardly finds humor in movies was really laughing throughout the whole movie. The whole assemble cast is really great, they work well together. In fact it was great to see Chevy Chase and a bunch of charactor actors that we have seen through the years come together and put out such a fun spirited and zany movie. Kudos to Chevy and the Cast. July 15, 2008

Not so funny

I am a fan of Chevy Chase and he is good in this movie. Miller is good too. All the acting is good. The problem with the movie is plot. It is his birthday, he finds the money, his wife gets "discovered" as an artist, and the wife is having a surprised birthday party for him. So many small things to wrong in the movie to keep the certain characters in the plot, it makes the whole thing uncomfortable. It is like a "Fawlty Towers" episode on steroids without the laughs. There a few chuckles in the movie, but it just doesn't justify the frenetic pacing. Penelope does the best she can with a strange role. She plays a depressed drunk for most of the movie. Chevy hits his part just right, but he isn't given much to work with. Even before I read that it was a movie made from a play, I knew it was a movie made from a play. It had a claustrophobic feel. Most of the action takes place within the house.

The movie frustrated me more than made me laugh. It just was not funny.
October 22, 2007

Two great actor, one bad film

This movie was developed from a stage play and shows it. Unlike most movies adapted from plays (think Harvey here) the director kept most of the action in a limited confine, the brownstone in New York.

I made it through the first 45 minutes or so then left it to play while I went and cleaned the kitchen. Nothing I heard of the remaining movie made me come in to watch anything happening on the screen. It became just background noise.

Chevy Chase and Penelope Ann Miller seemed to be trying their best to rescue this dog, but even good actors can't work with poor material! Bypass this and choose something else to see either of these stars. August 27, 2007

Better British

Some things just sound better with a British accent, and that's the problem with this American adaptation of the farcical play by Ray Cooney. Obviously intended for the British stage and audience, the plot is about the complications that arise when the lead character Henry Perkins (an ancient looking Chevy Chase) accidentally switches briefcases with a tough-looking guy on the train, and discovers that he is the new custodian of a large and undoubtedly illegal fortune in notes and bearer bonds.

Perkins decides to take the money and run, but his young wife (Penelope Ann Miller) remains unconvinced. The arrival of an undercover cop (Armand Assante), and a comedian moonlighting as a cab driver (or vice versa), and then their friends Vic and Betty, followed by another police officer, and then even more minor characters, leads to an amazing and absolutely befuddling sequence of variable identities, assumption-leaping and confusion that could only come from the pen of funnyman Cooney.

What the film lacked was the dry and bawdy (yet always hysterically funny) British comedic inflections and delivery, which made some of the truly great moments fall rather flat. The cast does their best given the Americanization of the plot, but this would have been a heck of a movie with a British cast. This version - 3.5 stars




Amanda Richards, August 18, 2007
August 17, 2007

Chevy Chase really does put the funny in Funny Money!

I was lucky enough to see this film shown before the public at the Sarasota Film Festival. I'm glad I got to see it with Chevy Chase in the audience. It was worth it. This movie is very funny! It is great to see Chevy Chase back on the screen. The film is well done for a low budget and full of animated characters that will have you laughing hysterically! August 14, 2007

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