For the Love of Money

Of course this movie is more than inspired by Marty Scorcese's GOOD FELLAS, a gangster biopic, with even the famous scene, during a poker game, with a Joe Pesci like dude asking to his pal; "Do You Think I am Funny?" But it shows at least the underworld in Israel and USA too, Israeli hoodlums in L. A.; not so usual. And this little crime film maybe suffers from a lame directing but it remains agreeable. And as in GOOD FELLAS or A BRONX TALE, you have the off voice from the narrator and main character. I guess it was not widely known and I am not surprised that much. Poor Jimmy Caan - who worked with Howard Hawks in the sixties - who is here to pay his bills, taxes or alimony fees.

The production design was good. Excessive use of old songs though. Old music is welcomed even in a dentist's chair but they should feel natural. The actual people who's story this film tells may have struggled but it doesn't come out here. A few brothers and cousins go to another country, and a few good and a few bad things happen...Could be anybody's story. James Caan saved it. However, it tried to be The Godfather and that is something no film should attempt to do. Some parts cater to the nostalgia very well but for some reason the film feels like Styrofoam, you watch it and you don't know what to take home from it. Or may be it's just me. This is my first review I hope I haven't written anything that qualifies as spoiling.

The description of this movie makes it sound lively and action-filled. In fact, it is slow, uneven, and devoid of character development. I kept wondering if the people in the film were actors. James Caan does a good job, but it isn't enough to save this. The ending is sappy. If you want entertainment, go someplace else. Don't even bother popping popcorn.

This film seems to have everything going for it. Good production value, nice nostalgia, great and accurate time warping, good play by good actors, lovely cars and great music memories. So obviously what's not working here is the drive of the story. A pity because this could have been really good. However, it you looking for a drama more than a action movie, there's a good chance you'll be quite satisfied.

A story based on real life events. We meet a couple of Israeli boys growing up in Tel Aviv, later on moving to L.A. To experience the American dream. Being successful with starting burger bars, going further on to dealing with cars, we follow the rise of gangsters. Being stupid enough to not showing the right amount of respect for Levine, they get into deep trouble.

The story is told like many well known gangster movies. I love James Caan's role as the mob boss Mickey Levine here. He is excellent!

The main film makers behind this female, and you might feel that. If you see this as a drama, and don't compare it to the gangster movies it pretends to follow I the line of, this is quite good film making.

Those words that can put you off a movie entirely. Or if you didn't know at least realize during the movie, that they keep this from going places. While the fall of Edward Furlong is something happened a long time ago (climbing up, won't be easy and not achieved by movies like this) there are other great character actors in this, which make you wonder if the script or the overall idea sounded a lot better? Or maybe it was just the money/job opportunity they got from this.

So James Caan and the others try to make this as respectable as possible, but the way things resolve is very anti-climactic. Maybe there are people out there that will like the approach and maybe this is as close to the true events as possible. It doesn't make for an enticing view though