Milk & Money

thin senseless plot, poor acting, minimal inter-actor chemistry, and unfortunately timed and ill-written comedic lines. The script is quirky but ultimately unsuccessful. This movie suffered from either being not realistic enough, or not absurd enough... a step in either direction would have been an improvement.

A young man (Robert Petkoff) impulsively quits medical school and immediately finds himself involved with a number of attractive women, all of whom want strange things from him (like holding onto a box for weeks and never looking inside it).

Along the way he meets up with various eccentric characters, the most fun being the late, great Peter Boyle's charming homeless man/ex-cowboy.

This is the kind of whimsical film that might have found more acceptance if it had been made in France and shown with subtitles. We seem to have more patience for foreign films that trade in smiles and light-hearted ,slightly absurd romantic tangles, with sexually aggressive, quirky and lovable women who may be inscrutable, but who are no less endearing for being so.

This is not a film that will change your life, but it is one you may very well enjoy.

I watched Milk and Money one lazy Sunday afternoon. During the entire film, I kept telling myself I had other things to do -- but I just couldn't turn it off. Milk and Money is offbeat and quirky, but cute and rather humorous throughout. Calista Flockhart is beguiling. Denise Faye is extremely sexy -- and Dina Merrill is a legendary supporting actress. Together, they are the primary women surrounding the main character, David. Milk and Money is not worth the ticket price at a movie theatre, but I would watch again on another lazy Sunday afternoon.

David drops out of medical school with one year to go, and suddenly he's a magnet for beautiful women behaving mysteriously. The one thing we expect most from a film is subverted: the protagonist encounters no challenging obstacles nor struggles to overcome (except perhaps his own bewilderment at how things keep working out). I don't care for straightforward comedies, and the movie has the perfect amount of absurdity and off-kilter dialogue to make me laugh while still telling a coherent story. These things seem to be the main complaints others have about it, and yet they're exactly what make it so unique and make me love it so much.

After quitting school, David orders a hot dog plain and the vendor guides him to have all the toppings. From then on his life is barely in his control and he just goes with it until he finds the life he seems to be looking for. A bookstore clerk reveals having dropped out of medical school three years earlier and experiencing similar luck in meeting women, suggesting it may be some sort of "cosmic consolation prize". In real life we may encounter rare moments of serendipity, but the funny and fantastical trajectory of David's fate shows us a whole world of such possibilities that we can only dream of.

As a romcom, Milk & Money is unusual for predominantly being a male's fantasy (without resorting to vulgar 'sex comedy'), but at least it's not entirely one sided. Anyway, to me it's as much about the bigger picture of whimsical, starry-eyed fate and embracing enjoyment of the universe. It's a delight to watch it unfold. The thought that some viewers resent a fictional character who finds success without effort only makes the film's subversion even funnier.

The film is also noteworthy for being the only one of my all-time top 10 movies that doesn't feature death/violence/gore. I guess peaceful wackiness is difficult to do well!

This one surprised me! From moment one, the great music, the scenery, and as the film progressed, each supporting character made this a treasure I've watched often at home. I have never seen a film with such a rich supporting cast that was given so much screen time. Each one of them is captivating and well played: Peter Boyle, Olympia Dukakis, Dina Merrill are names you know, but the many others were extremely well chosen and directed.

Lead actor Robert Petkof is charming as the likable everyman going thru the comical plot, and his love interest Callisto Flockhart is beguiling!

Altogether, this film is well done, the script is perfectly fun, and the director did a marvelous putting it together. A real unexpected treat!