Review of Pocket Money (1972) by Jack G — 22 Feb 2008

Man, I wasted a lot of people's time to get this review up. Most of all mine.

So, if you've been reading and re-reading my reviews, you should remember when I was plowing through the Warner Brother's Paul Newman Signature Collection. I couldn't stop ranting and raving about that set. After all, it had all these pretty great movies that I had barely heard of. Well, I always wanted to balance those glowing reviews with Pocket Money. Pocket Money is kind of a lame movie that has almost no coherence whatsoever.

And to think that I made some poor Flixster employees make a page for this film. But I get to be the first review, so that's something.

The good part about this film is the cast. Paul Newman and Lee Marvin on a screen together? I nearly lost it when I saw the cover for this DVD. I mean, Paul Newman, we decided, was great, but Lee "F*cking" Marvin? (People call him "F*cking" as a nickname. I can't help that.) Lee Marvin makes a movie badass. Well, I quickly discovered, that only counts when he's playing a badass. Yeah, the performances are fine. But I cannot stress enough how this movie has little to no throughline. We see an honest man down on his luck who knows he's gonna get screwed...

...and he gets screwed. Really? I had to watch the entire film just to get that moment confirmed. Also, this movie really tries to be somewhat of a comedy but the laughs are just forced. I know both actors can deliver some absolutely great jokes, but not when the jokes are poorly written. I honestly don't know where to file this movie in terms of genre. There's just very little redeeeming it.

It's got some pretty pictures and if you are a big fan of Mexico, there might be something here for you. But otherwise, this movie just comes in pretty flat. It's also really hard to review this movie after-the-fact because I remember being so disappointed right at the time.

But thank you, kind souls at Flixster. I'm sorry I made you put in a movie that is really kind of blah.