Money Talks - Geld stinkt nicht

The movie that made director Brett Ratner a recognizable name is mostly another white-yuppie-and-black-ghetto-guy-have-to-join-up kind of story (summer 1997 also saw the release of the Tim Robbins-Martin Lawrence buddy comedy "Nothing to Lose"). But as far as I'm concerned, Chris Tucker - who earlier that summer had starred in "The Fifth Element" - is always funny enough to merit at least some recognition; and anyway, this sort of flick is supposed to be silly. While Charlie Sheen is far less entertaining in his role, Paul Sorvino played such an interesting character that I agreed with one of my friends that he and Chris Tucker should have gotten more scenes together. Truth be told, I'd actually never heard of Vic Damone until I saw this movie.

OK, so maybe we could be cynical and say that Chris Tucker just gets the same role in every movie. I still consider him funny, and I wish to assert that "Money Talks" is good for a few laughs. Worth seeing if only for that.

A low-level smooth talking hustler by the name of Franlin Hatchet (Chris Tucker) is on the run from the police, after a jailbreak. Which he is falsely accused of planning a violent jailbreak. Now the whole city is on his trail and the only one, who could clear his name is an ambitious television reporter James Russell (Charlie Sheen). Which is the only reason why Franklin was sent to prison, because of James. Now together, they find each other mixed-up with cops, crooks and euro-trash bad guys. Which Franklin knows that the man (Gerard Ismael) was chained-up with in the bus. He was trying to retrieve a fortune in diamonds.

Directed by Brett Rather (Rush Hour Trilogy, X-Men 3:The Last Stand, Red Dragon) made an highly entertaining comedy with enough thrills and humour. Although the premise is familiar but Tucker's energetic comical performance makes this worth watching.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD includes the original theatrical trailer, cast information and star highlights by Tucker and Sheen. After the box office success of this film, Tucker went on the one of the leads of the "Rush Hour" movies. Paul Sorvino is amusingly cast as Russell's future father-in-law. Written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. Which they wrote films together like "Garfield", "Garfield:A Tale of Two Kitties" and "Toy Story". Tucker also executive produced the film. Super 35. (****/*****).

Money Talks (1997) is a movie I recently rewatched for the first time in a long time on Tubi. The storyline follows a struggling reporter who runs into the wrong scam artist. The scam artist gets blamed for a crime that the reporter doesn't believe there is any chance he did. When the reporter runs into the scam artist who is somehow out of jail he offers to protect him in hopes of breaking a huge nation wide story and jump start his career. The reporter doesn't know that inviting the scam artist into his world may be more than he can handle.

This movie is directed by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) and stars Charlie Sheen (Major League), Chris Tucker (Fifth Element), Heather Locklear (The Return of Swamp Thing), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas), Elise Neal (Hustle & Flow) and David Warner (Titanic).

The storyline for this is all over the place and crazy, as you would expect for this genre. Christ Tucker is over the top and absolutely awesome. His voices, slang and body language is fantastic. Sheen was also a perfect costar due to his very different body language and demeanor. The soundtrack in this was outstanding. The jail scene, sequence at the in-laws house and the "snap and pop" line is legendary.

Overall this is an underrated comedic gem. I would score this a 7.5-8/10 and strongly recommend it.

Plot summary: Franklin Hatchett (Tucker) is a small time con man who instantly becomes famous (or infamous depending on how you look at it) after he escapes from prison. Mistakenly wanted for murder by the police and wanted for robbery by a gang of crooks, Hatchett's only hope to clear his name and get out of this mess is a television reporter named James Russell (Sheen).

This movie was just a good time. After seeing Rush Hour with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, I wanted to go back and see earlier comedies with Chris Tucker in a starring role. (I already saw Dead Presidents, The 5th Element and Friday, but they either weren't comedies or he wasn't a starring character.)

Again, this movie was a good time. It doesn't deserve to win any awards, but it's just fun to watch. The entire cast offers great performances, while it's always good to see Paul Sorvino perform. While Tucker's character isn't exactly the nicest guy, the audience feels bad for him. The audience is made to feel that he does what he does because he has to. In his situation, I don't think many people would do otherwise. While he does take things to extremes, the movie wouldn't be as fun if he didn't.

I would recommend this movie to any comedy fan, "buddy movie" fan or fan of the actors.

Ever since I saw Chris Tucker on Def Comedy Jam in the early 90's I was committed to see him in whatever he appeared in. "Money Talks" was his first significant role in which he wasn't a heavy drug user. From what I remember, that's the reason he chose this role and turned down the role for "Next Friday;" he didn't want to be type-cast. True to form, he was hilarious in "Money Talks" just as I expected.