La surprise

I saw "Milk Money" when I was eleven; much of what happens in the movie is the sort of stuff that would make any eleven-year-old boy think "Whoa...cool!" Looking back on it, I still think that it was pretty funny, but was it the most mature movie? No, and it doesn't pretend to be. I read somewhere that this movie was sexist; I wouldn't know one way or the other. All that I interpreted was that the movie was a nice, horny excuse to have fun. Richard Benjamin has proved himself to be quite capable as a director, and this adds to that.

I know, the prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold context is a cliché, but this is a comedy, so it passes. And believe you me, this V (Melanie Griffith) is definitely a V for vendetta! Also starring Ed Harris, Malcolm McDowell, Casey Siemaszko, and a very young Anne Heche. Really entertaining, especially the report on the female reproductive system.

Melanie Griffith,(V) played a woman of the streets who meets up with three boys who want to see what a girl looks like in the nude. Of course, if they really wanted to do it the correct way, they could ask their dad's and possibly their mothers. However, this is a Hollywood film and it made the entire story quite funny, especially when they have a sex education class and decided to use a rather non-kosher way of presenting the facts. Ed Harris,(Tom Wheeler) plays the father to Michael Patrick Carter,(Frank Wheeler) who gets to be good friends with Melanie Griffith and introduces her to his father. This is a very entertaining film and you can find fault with this film whether you are on the left or right side in life, but comedy and laughs are good for everyone and I recommend this film for great viewing.

I'm sure this film is no longer considered politically correct since it involves a scene where a prostitute shows pre-teen boys her breasts, but it has a lot of cute moments and Melanie Griffith and Ed Harris have great chemistry. It made me smile more than I'd like to admit and I suppose that counts for something.

Very conservative people might not like the plot of this film (kid tries to get his widowed dad and an ex-hooker to fall in love with each other), but actually everything is quite harmless and fun.

The story gets sometimes a bit silly (especially when the boy takes Melanie Griffith to school as part of his "science project"), but the acting and the comedy is good. There was always a smile on my lips as I watched the misunderstandings between Harris and Griffith, when the dad believes that she is a math tutor and the hooker believes he knows her true job.

Ed Harris does a good job as the shy father, and Melanie Griffith is believable as the golden hearted hooker. But it's the kid (Michael Patrick Carter) the one who steals the show, with his winning smile and his mixture of innocence and curiosity.

Milk Money (1994)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A group of young boys save up their "milk" money so that they can buy a father (Ed Harris) a hooker known as V (Melanie Griffith).

There's a bit more to the plot of MILK MONEY but that's the basic set-up. After the success of WHEN HARRY MET SALLY... these types of romantic comedies were in high demand so we got all sorts of strange stories and this here is certainly one of the strangest.

Once you get over the idea of young kids buying a hooker for dad, the film itself really isn't all that bad and in many ways it's pretty charming for what it is. You've basically got two fine actors turning in fun performances and that's what makes the film worth watching. Harris is especially good as the father who is still grieving over his wife. Griffith easily steals the film as the hooker with a heart of gold as well as a great body that is constantly in tight clothes.

The film's screenplay has a pretty basic set-up and it pretty much plays out as you would expect it to. There's certainly nothing ground-breaking here and it's not one of the best films that the genre has to offer but if you're a fan of the cast then it's worth watching.