Money Talks (1997)

This so-called comedy loses all track of direction, makes "comedic" use of extreme violence and bloodshed, is pointless and inane, uses profanity instead of wit, and dulls the intelligence level of its watchers. I evidently had a masochistic urge when I turned it on and stuck to it. It is blissfully short and makes ill-use of Sheen, Sorvino and Locklear. (Their agents should have known better.)

Fmovies: MONEY TALKS is a good showcase for Chris Tucker, who utterly saves the project from being a disappointment. Here, he plays a street hustler who is wrongly accused of murder. Charlie Sheen is the reporter who risks his engagement to his fiancee (Heather Locklear) to help Tucker out. While the action isn't all that good, Sheen and Tucker's chemistry makes up for it in this above-average comedy.

3 out of 5

How many buddy films must Hollywood churn out? A mildly entertaining, but repetitive flick for a late-night, TBS watch. It's odd how Charlie Sheen went from starring in one of the best war films of all time (Platoon) to silly movies like this. There are some laughs here, but most of the "comedy" is centered around Tucker's stereotypical "urban blackness". Chris Tucker's only role in this movie (and others) is so that middle-class, white people can laugh at those silly black people.

Sheen is a local TV reporter whose report on a local hustler (Tucker) helps get him arrested. When Tucker's character is framed for a murder he didn't commit, he turns to Sheen for help.

If there's nothing else on television, give it a shot, but don't spend money on it. I recommend the similar, but better (still by no means fine cinema, but funnier and more entertaining than Money Talks) Rush Hour, also starring Tucker along with Jackie Chan.

Money Talks fmovies. Meh. The combo of Tucker & Sheen as the uptight reporter & loud mouth ex-con don't make for a very entertaining duo. Sheen is useless & Tucker is just a young wanna be Eddie Murphy. Had this been done in the 80s with Murphy & a good actor as the straight man, it might have worked. (Didn't Murphy & Nick Nolte do a cop/ex con duo in the 80s?) Same differance here, except little to no talent involved.

A low-level smooth talking hustler by the name of Franlin Hatchet (Chris Tucker) is on the run from the police, after a jailbreak. Which he is falsely accused of planning a violent jailbreak. Now the whole city is on his trail and the only one, who could clear his name is an ambitious television reporter James Russell (Charlie Sheen). Which is the only reason why Franklin was sent to prison, because of James. Now together, they find each other mixed-up with cops, crooks and euro-trash bad guys. Which Franklin knows that the man (Gerard Ismael) was chained-up with in the bus. He was trying to retrieve a fortune in diamonds.

Directed by Brett Rather (Rush Hour Trilogy, X-Men 3:The Last Stand, Red Dragon) made an highly entertaining comedy with enough thrills and humour. Although the premise is familiar but Tucker's energetic comical performance makes this worth watching.

DVD has an sharp anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer (also in Pan & Scan) and an strong-Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD includes the original theatrical trailer, cast information and star highlights by Tucker and Sheen. After the box office success of this film, Tucker went on the one of the leads of the "Rush Hour" movies. Paul Sorvino is amusingly cast as Russell's future father-in-law. Written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow. Which they wrote films together like "Garfield", "Garfield:A Tale of Two Kitties" and "Toy Story". Tucker also executive produced the film. Super 35. (****/*****).

The movie that made director Brett Ratner a recognizable name is mostly another white-yuppie-and-black-ghetto-guy-have-to-join-up kind of story (summer 1997 also saw the release of the Tim Robbins-Martin Lawrence buddy comedy "Nothing to Lose"). But as far as I'm concerned, Chris Tucker - who earlier that summer had starred in "The Fifth Element" - is always funny enough to merit at least some recognition; and anyway, this sort of flick is supposed to be silly. While Charlie Sheen is far less entertaining in his role, Paul Sorvino played such an interesting character that I agreed with one of my friends that he and Chris Tucker should have gotten more scenes together. Truth be told, I'd actually never heard of Vic Damone until I saw this movie.

OK, so maybe we could be cynical and say that Chris Tucker just gets the same role in every movie. I still consider him funny, and I wish to assert that "Money Talks" is good for a few laughs. Worth seeing if only for that.