The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest

"The First $20 Million..." is an easy-going comedy with a romantic bent which sticks Garcia out in front as a computer geek who aspires to be another Steve Jobs by working with some other geeks who are trying to build a $99 computer....er, something like that. A happy-go-nowhere little flick which is too uncool for the young demographic and too young for adults, I'm guessing it's a movie in search of a market. Hard to swallow and hard to follow with laughs which are too few and too far between, "The First $20 Million..." is an uninspired albeit earnest novel knock-off which is best saved for broadcast. (C)

Are you kidding me? Jon Favreau wrote the screenplay for this movie? ::shaking head:: Jon, what were you thinking?! This movie is predictable and sophomoric, and the characters are shamefully stereotyped. I get the feeling they were aiming for Revenge of the Nerds, but ended up with Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love. It's a shame that I'll never get that 105 minutes of my life back.

I enjoy the writing of Po Bronson, with Bombardiers being right up there with Catch-22 as one of the funniest books I have ever read. I remember enjoying The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest as well, although I think I keep confusing it with Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. When I saw this movie was playing on Showtime, I had no idea that it was made into a movie. I guess it was only released in L.A. and New York in 2002. Well, it's certainly a cheeseball interpretation of the book, with sub-par writing by Jon Favreau, who adapted the screenplay. But, being a movie about the dot-com generation, I can't resist. It's not horrible, and having Rosario Dawson cast as the female lead certainly doesn't suck.

Boy, the reviews of this film are terrible, but I think it was a fun movie, with clever characterizations and satire. Okay, it's not a top-notch film, but come on, it's a blast to watch, and does not deserve such evil comments that have been made. I think Adam Garcia keeps the movie running smoothly with an amiable personality. Farce is a tough nut to make, so I guess people can't handle some of the silliness. But this film is not as bad as many are led to believe.

Ignore the low rating, flames by computer geeks and bad reviews. The First 20 million is always the hardest is an excellent tale of backstab business, living the dream and starting over.

The actors work wonderfully together to produce a high quality of wit and light humor not seen in many of the movies of 2002, and the producers did an excellent budgeting job, seeing as the movie was made on a small budget. The cast are a diverse bunch, and it can only be a matter of time before they all hit it big.

I recommend you at least see it before judging it, remember, it's been badmouthed around the web by geeks who believe the technology in this movie is impossible, remember, the movie is not about computers... but about living the dream!