Skip to content

BREWSTER’S MILLIONS

Written By:

J.D. Gillam
brewsters-millions

As sole heir to a fortune, when Montgomery Brewster is bequeathed a mammoth $300,000,000 dollars in his hitherto unknown Great Uncle’s will, he thinks that he’s set for life. But there is a wicked caveat to this windfall.

In order to get his hands on it, he is tasked with spending $30,000,000 in thirty days, after which he is not allowed to own anything except for the shirt on his back. And so begins a fast paced month of insanity, as Monty (Pryor) is not allowed to tell anyone about the directive within the will. Employing random strangers as employees, buying crowds lunch, renting suites in the most expensive hotels, it all eats away at his new found fortune.

There is a female accountant employed by the firm administrating the deal, Granville & Baxter, and his best friend, Spike (Candy), who have no idea of Monty’s end game and so try to find ways to make him money as he’s spending it. So Monty finds a way to throw as much money away as possible, in a way that doesn’t break any of the rules that surround the deal – he runs for office, his campaign running with the motto “None of the Above”. He ends up being sued by his opponents and settles out of court. He even sets up a dream baseball game against the New York Yankees with his old team that he’s now bankrolling. 

As usual, there’s a bad guy, or guys here, as the firm try to load the bases against him and trick him to ensure that their firm gets the big money should Monty fail, but Monty manages to wriggle out of the trap at the last second to secure the $300,000,000.

At the end, only Spike and his accountant, who finds out about the fraudulent attempt by the partners of the firm and her fiancé to get their hands on the money at the very last second, are by his side.

Monty gets the big money and the film ends abruptly there, which is interesting considering the film is all about what money can do to someone. But you get the feeling that Monty is a better man for the experience.

The film manages to show that money can’t buy you happiness – one of the Great Uncle’s first comments is that he’s going to teach Monty to hate spending it – and that money brings the worst out in some people, most of which are just leeches hanging onto the gravy-train for as long as it lasts, only to abandon him when it ends.

Now over thirty years old, this is one of those rare beasts, along with other films like Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop, an 80s comedy that has dated well. Pryor is likeable as always and Candy is his usual zany self.

BREWSTER’S MILLIONS (1985) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: WALTER HILL / SCREENPLAY: HERSCHEL WEINGROD, TIMOTHY HARRIS / STARRING: RICHARD PRYOR, JOHN CANDY, LONETTE MCKEE, STEPHEN COLLINS / RELEASE DATE: 28TH MARCH

J.D. Gillam

You May Also Like...

andy and barbara muschietti, aka the muschiettis, teaming with skydance for horror label nocturna

The Muschiettis Launch Horror Label NOCTURNA With Skydance

The It-team are joining forces with Skydance to launch a brand new horror division named Nocturna, THR reports. The brother-sister filmmaking duo known as the Muschiettis – Andy and Barbara
Read More
patty jenkins returns to the star wars film rogue squadron

Patty Jenkins Returns With STAR WARS’ ROGUE SQUADRON Film

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has given an encouraging update on what was presumed to be a dead project, stating that she’s back in active development on her Star Wars
Read More

Comic Book CAPITAL P Launched

Capital P Book One is the first part of a twelve-issue comic book maxi-series from writer Sam Gardner Jr and artist Jerome Canty. The official tag line is “A hero
Read More
neve campbell as sidney prescott in scream

Neve Campbell Returns To SCREAM Franchise

In an unexpected turn of events, Neve Campbell is confirmed to be returning to the Scream franchise, after several upsets to the production of Scream VII. It’s particularly surprising news
Read More

The First Trailer for THE CROW is Here

The highly anticipated remake of The Crow has its first trailer, which you can check out below. The film stars Bill Skarsgård as Eric Draven and FKA Twigs as Shelly
Read More

Submit Your Film to THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN AWARDS

The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation is once again holding an awards programme to recognise excellence in the field of stop-motion effects. This year’s submission fees have also been reduced!
Read More