Meh' Geld

My review was written in July 1992 after a screening in Manhattan's Murray Hill neighborhood.

Damon Wayans and his younger brother Marlon Wayans make a terrific comedy team in "Mo' Money". Loosely structured film has trouble meshing its very funny gag scenes with rough action footage, but it should earn mucho change from escapist fans.

Following p his solid turn co-starring opposite Bruce Willis in "The Last Boy Scout", Damon Wayans exhibits plenty of irreverent comic invention as star, writer and exec producer here. He needs a stronger hand than action helmer Peter Macdonald ("Rambo III") to fully realize a satisfying feature film beyond a mere collection of funny sketches.

He casts himself as a ne'er-do-well street punk who sets a poor role model for younger brother (played by Marlon Wayans). Their father was a cop who died in the line of duty, with his partner Joe Santos trying in vain to set the Wayans brothers on the right track.

To pursue a lovely romantic interest (Stacey Dash), Damon gets a job in the mailroom for her credit card company. Soon the Wayanses have cooked up a scam using uncancelled credit cards to finance a shopping spree.

Coincidentally (and this is where Wayans' script starts to fall apart), cop Sano is investigating a murder that's linked to a much larger credit card scam at the same company. Evil exec John Diehl is the ruthless mastermind who soon blackmails Damon into becoming his reluctant henchman.

Finale of Damon using his street smarts to act like his late father and collar the criminal is telegraphed many reels ahead but well staged in a showy, violent finale.

Between the killings and heavy -duty action set pieces, "Mo' Money" comes to life as expertly conceived and executed burlesque bits. Damon and rubber-faced Marlon work very comfortably together and even pull off such difficult routines as posing as gay lovers to humiliate (and scam) a white jewelry store clerk.

Damon has written many colorful characters, both black and white, including a tall, aggressive co-worker (delightfully played by Almayvonne) who sets her sights romantically on each of the brothers. He's persuasive as an action hero, too, but the action here is not convincingly dovetailed with the comedy.

Marlon shows athletic grace and is perfect as a sidekick adding fuel to his rumored casting as Robin in an upcoming film of the "Batman" saga. Green-eyed Stacey Dash is a dreamy love interest, and Diehl is perfect as a smiling villain.

Film is well-made, though fancy wipe and transitions don't mask the absence of a sorng narrative line. Song score by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, featuring such top performers as Janet Jackson, Luther Vandross and Public Enemy, is an important element in the concoction.

(Flash Review)

Wayans's In Living Color hobo character is stretched extremely thin. An upper class gal meets a low stakes street hustler doing his thing and comically and obsessively follows her to her place of work, applies for a job and ends up working at the same company and warmly tries to win her over and out of her stuffy and rude boyfriend's clutches. Then the movie shifts gears and is thrust into the Wayans brothers helping capture some criminals and it turns into a cops and robbers cheesy action movie. It had some amusing moments but overall was confused on what it wanted to be.

Damon Wayans of 'In Living Color' fame wrote and stars in this reasonably amusing 90s action-comedy, casting himself as amiable lead Johnny Stewart. Johnny is a streetwise ne'er-do-well who's content to run scams with his younger brother Seymour (played by Wayans' real-life younger sibling Marlon (the "Scary Movie" series). Then he meets a girl: Amber (Stacey Dash, "Clueless") a drop-dead gorgeous employee at a credit card company. And he attempts to go straight in his relentless (and I do mean relentless) ambition to win her over, getting a job in the company's mailroom. But Johnny gives in to temptation and starts purloining cards and going on spending sprees, earning the attention of the corrupt security chief Keith Heading (John Diehl, "Stripes"). Now under Keiths' thumb, it's clear that Johnny is in over his head.

Wayans' script is really not that good, stumbling when it comes to its crime and thriller aspects (although director Peter Macdonald ("Rambo III") delivers decent action sequences). But its comedy content is often very funny, and very un-p.c. At times. The movie works best as a vehicle for its talented stars. Wayans shows some real charm, Dash is appealing, Harry J. Lennix ('The Blacklist') is a hoot as her stuck-up boyfriend, Marlon W. Has a lot of comic energy, and Diehl is an extremely fun, very overconfident bad guy. Joe Santos ('The Rockford Files') is solid as an investigating detective who's been trying to look out for the irresponsible Johnny for years. A couple of familiar faces have small roles: Mark Beltzman ("Billy Madison"), Larry Brandenburg ("The Shawshank Redemption"), Matt Doherty (the "Mighty Ducks" movies), Richard Hamilton ("Men in Black"), Salli Richardson-Whitfield ("Black Dynamite"), and Irma P. Hall ("A Family Thing"). Keep your eyes peeled for Bernie Mac ("Bad Santa") as a club doorman.

One undeniable, hilarious highlight: Gordon McClure as "The Reverend Pimp Daddy", an utter shambles of a defense attorney. And an actress named Almayvonne is priceless as a gal who ends up with designs on both Johnny and Seymour.

Basically, it's the cast that makes this one worth seeing.

Seven out of 10.

My ranking is a little high but this film started out good! Then they had to throw in the crime/action BS and it threw off what could have been a classic from the 90s era. I a lot of ways it is ahead of its time.

Although thin on plot, great performances by the leads do manage to save what would otherwise be another mediocre comedy. Damon Wayans shows considerable charisma as the lead, and has terrific chemistry with beautiful co-star Stacey Dash. To be sure, much of the humour here is silly, but when the pace is slower (and the dialogue is realistic), the film really does work .