Pinching Penny

I liked the opening bit with the home invasions, but after that, the movie fell apart. Each new character got more and more ridiculous and unbelievable. The characters had no depth and no development.

They mentioned over and over in the story that the main character had an obsession with buying things. Too bad it wasn't shown in the movie. You didn't see or feel it about the character. It wasn't part of him. All you ever saw were a few additional items cluttering the house. It was an entirely unnecessary motive for him without showing it in the character. Hell, it wasn't necessary at all. Why does he need the obsession in the first place? Why can't they simply want money? Isn't that motive enough? It wasn't entirely rotten. A few scenes and characters showed promise. I've seen a lot worse with bigger budgets. I hope his next movie takes my advice. Great movies have deep characters. Forget the plot. Piling on more characters and more plot points don't make it better. Instead, deepen and develop your characters. Make me feel for them. Make them real.

I've read everything, I've seen the trailers, and I've heard a lot of buzz about this film. On facebook, friends are talking about it. I like to make up my own open mind, so I rented the movie. I had a BLAST watching it. There are some problems with the writing, which is due, I think, to a young writer who is trying to fit a LOT into 2 hours. I would have preferred a more limited story and stronger character development, but other than that, the movie was pure fun. The leads were terrific, especially Molony and Myer. I think the following critical review excerpt sums it up for me: "The acting was good here, though, and just helped to provide more entertainment. Steven Molony is great in the lead role of Alex. His gritty performance really holds the movie together. The kid shows a lot of promise here. If given the opportunity and time, it could be interesting to see where his career goes. One good role and he could prove to be something of a breakout star in the future. Or, at the very least, one of those respectable mainstays in the indie world. Timothy Meyer does well playing Murray bringing a certain level of charm and humor to the movie." --- Couch Potato; Josh Lyons. I agree completely!!!!

I'm a fan. No question about it. When a group of college guys commit to creating a gritty feature-length movie and actually get it completed, sold and distributed nationwide, you have to sit up and take notice. I was intrigued in Pinching Penny's first moments, laughing out loud the next, and ready to cry by the end. Steven Molony stars as Alex, craving money to spend for the sake of spending and acquiring "stuff," but making poor choices to get the needed bucks. As he and his partners in crime move from petty thievery to kidnapping (aka pinching) and worse, viewers begin to literally feel Alex's misery. Molony demonstrates an entire repertoire of faces, emotions, and attitudes that are REAL. For me and my friends, the movie is a 10 based on the strength of his acting. In terms of the direction, Dan Glaser scripted some great comedic scenes as well as a few sudden shockers. He crafted cool settings, costuming, and makeup to complement effective montage editing. By casting Molony and some strong supporting characters, this little indie film has the potential to become a cult classic. Indeed, Pinching Penny is one to watch.

As somebody who knows the filmmakers, I have no problem professing that all the high reviews as of 10.31.11 are from the filmmakers or their friends and family. In fact, they haven't even bothered to type new reviews, but have copied and pasted their previous glorifying comments from Amazon.com.

As for my review; this movie is your standard film student fare. It borrows from dozens of popular movies and makes no original additions of its own. Pinching Penny would be a good movie to watch if you know the people involved or are stoned, drunk, or otherwise mentally incapacitated. If not, I would suggest you don't waste your time.

It's been said by others, but this just looks and feels like a looooong student film. And not a good one. It drags on and on while nothing of interest happens. The acting by the lead is good, but the rest of the film is garbage. The characters all look like young friends playing dress-ups and there isn't even a hint of credibility or 'realism'. There's no feeling of any real threat, either. To anyone. The 'medic' was beyond idiotic. Was all the red light meant to make it feel like 'hell' and he sold his soul to the proverbial devil? Well, it didn't work. It just made it look even more like an amateur production. The 'story' is irritating. The editing is terrible and overly complicated, trying to be stylistic and cool, but just coming across as pretentious and annoying. A lot of the slow motion sequences with music are completely pointless. The characters are all silly, boring, and dull, and the swearing feels fake and forced, with no real emotion behind it... or anything, for that matter. I had to sit through this garbage for professional reasons, and was a real struggle. Rest assured that my company at least will not be touching this train wreck. It's a waste of time and money. And the weakness was not the lack of money. Better films have been done for less. The weakness was the over-directing, the pretentious editing, and the utterly terrible writing. As you can tell, I absolutely hated it.

Edit: Do the people posting the fake reviews here really think that anyone would be stupid enough to believe them? If they do then I guess those gullible people deserve to sit through this joke of a film. However, since most low budget pieces of garbage (as opposed to some genuinely good low budget offerings) have a bunch of overly excited fake reviews by family, friends, and people involved in the film claiming it to be the greatest thing ever, I guess that assuming anyone would be gullible enough to believe those reviews is even more of an insult to the public than the film they want to dupe you to see.