Review Category: DVD/Blu Ray

Joe Dante’s 1989 film The ‘Burbs was very misunderstood on its initial release, despite being a modest success. Perhaps audiences were expecting a rip-roaring, slapstick comedy, as Tom Hanks was its rising star and that was what Hanks was renowned for. This was pre-Hanks’ Oscar glory days, pre-Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan. Instead audiences were treated to a bitingly satirical black comedy, which peeled back the seemingly idyllic apple pie, white picket fences and neighbourly façade of suburban Norman Rockwell America, exposing its dark underbelly and hypocrisy. 

Hanks stars as Ray Peterson, a man who has decided to spend his vacation relaxing at home, much to his wife’s (Carrie Fisher) bemusement. His relaxation soon comes to an abrupt halt when the mysterious Klopek’s move into the house next door. Suspicions are aroused in the neighbourhood after strange noises are heard and mysterious lights are seen at night. Suspicion soon escalates to paranoia, when a neighbour disappears and Ray witnesses the Klopek’s burying something in their garden on a storm-ravaged night. Things soon get out of hand as Ray is goaded into discovering the Klopek’s secret by his neighbours Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommun) and Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern), resulting in a darkly twisted comic catastrophe. 

Dante’s film seems to be more relevant now, in these days of Donald Trump driven hysteria, than it did twenty-seven years ago. We the audience are led by Dante to assume that the Klopek’s are evil. They speak with thick eastern European accents, they live in a ramshackle house, they are rarely seen during the hours of daylight and, most telling of all, creepy organ music and ravens accompany scenes of the Klopek’s home. But then Dante cleverly pulls the rug from under us, as he reveals how dangerously idiotic seemingly ordinary suburbanites become when their mounting fear remains unchecked. 

Hanks is mainly the straight man to Rick Ducommun’s Art and Bruce Dern’s para-military minded Mark, whom starts each day with raising and saluting the American flag on his front lawn. Carrie Fisher and Wendy Schaal play their parts as the reality checking wives to the best that their somewhat limited roles allow. Corey Feldman plays an interesting character who invites his friends to watch normality descending into chaos from the front porch, whilst he offers encouragement and less than helpful advice. When his girlfriend suggests that they go to the movies, he replies that his neighbourhood is “better than the movies”. Brother Theodore and Henry Gibson provide scene-stealing scenes, and along with Courtney Gains, form the Klopek family. The scene in which Hanks is maneuvered into having to prove himself the alpha male by eating cold sardines and pretzels whilst under the scrutiny of Brother Theodore is priceless. Dante regulars Dick Miller and Roberto Picardo also turn up in the requisite cameo roles.

Regular Dante collaborator, composer Jerry Goldsmith, supplies a darkly fun and tongue in cheek score, in which he knowingly and unashamedly recycles his theme from Patton for Bruce Dern’s character, and it works within this films context. Joe Dante once more showcases his talents at balancing black comedy with mounting tension and suspense, and although this doesn’t quite reach the magnificence that he attained with Explorers, this is certainly one of his most enjoyable films. 

THE ‘BURBS / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR: JOE DANTE / SCREENPLAY: DANA OLSEN / STARRING: TOM HANKS, BRUCE DERN, CARRIE FISHER, COREY FELDMAN, RICK DUCOMMUN / RELEASE DATE: 28TH MARCH 

If there’s one minority group that has a hard time finding representation on movie screens, it’s the transgender community. The Danish Girl may have signalled that the tide is beginning to turn, but came under flak for casting cisgender Eddie Redmayne in the eponymous role, and for being yet another isn’t-Eddie-Redmayne-so-sad-cue-tinkly-piano-music piece of Oscar bait. A much more interesting film appeared around the same time, albeit on very limited release – Tangerine.

Sean S. Baker’s movie follows transgender sex workers Sin-Dee (Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Taylor). Sin-Dee finds out that her boyfriend and pimp Chester (The Wire’s James Ransone) has been cheating on her, so angrily sets out to confront him. Meanwhile, Armenian taxi driver Razmik (Karagulian) cruises the LA streets looking for trans prostitutes; a pastime his family is unaware of.

It may sound light on plot, and indeed it is, but this is a film very much in the realist tradition. Rodriguez and Taylor genuinely were sex workers in this environment before turning to acting, which gives the performances a real verisimilitude and makes Sin-Dee and Alexandra a lot of fun to spend time with, with their breakneck-paced banter and bitching providing several genuinely funny moments. 

But these funny moments are juxtaposed with sad ones, and the two girls are never far away from someone ready to use or abuse them; men seeming to be clients call Sin-Dee over to their car, only to throw urine in her face and drive off screaming transphobic insults. Sadly, these moments are also all too believable. The story is never melodramatic or over-plotted; rather, this series of moments, happy and sad, is a typical day in the life of people like Sin-Dee and Alexandra, and all the more affecting for it.

What’s also remarkable is the way Tangerine was shot – on the iPhone 5s. Though the opening scene, a typical two-way conversation in a diner, does feel oddly clunky, worries are soon assuaged by the remarkable handheld shots sweeping through LA’s busy neighbourhoods. Honestly, it’s filmed with more energy and style than many movies with a hundred times the budget – a reminder that a bank-breakingly expensive kit is no longer needed to make a great film.

And that’s important, because the community Tangerine explores would undoubtedly be considered too niche for a major studio to consider making a film about, and yet transgender sex workers are just as worthy of depiction in cinema as hardened snipers or intrepid journalists. This slice of modern realism is both poignant and funny; if you weren’t able to catch it on its narrow cinema release, make sure you pick up the DVD.

Special features: only a ‘visual style test’. Which is a shame, as BTS material explaining the unconventional shooting methods would be genuinely interesting.

DVD REVIEW: TANGERINE / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: SEAN S. BAKER / SCREENPLAY: SEAN S. BAKER, CHRIS BERGOCH / STARRING: KITANA KIKI RODRIGUEZ, MYA TAYLOR, KARREN KARAGULIAN / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 28TH

Somewhere in the Australian outback, a family are about to be evicted from their property. The bank offers a deal but the farmer and his wife won’t go, despite the fact that something unknown and nasty is lurking in the woods and slaughtering their sheep on a regular basis. Their teenage daughter is itching to get back to the city, but their young son loves it here. He has even constructed something like a human-sized rat run, a tunnel made from wooden slats and boxes, where he hides his treasures. Among the treasures are two rifle bullets. Who’s betting that they might come in handy as the story continues?

Luckily for the family – but unluckily for the banker – after the pompous moneyman leaves their house, he stops to relieve himself in the woods. That’s not a smart idea. The Pack – a gang of murderous wild dogs – promptly takes him down and rips out his throat. And then they turn their attentions on the family inside the house. The family erect barricades but when the dogs find their way into the building, the family’s chances for survival look less than hopeful.

The Pack is a strange film. It takes the familiar ‘nature gone bad’ trope that seems to be such a favourite of Aussie cinema (Long Weekend, Razorback, The Last Wave) and throws in elements of Stephen King’s Cujo and Hitchcock’s The Birds to create a family-in-peril thriller that is very good to look at but, ultimately, isn’t very thrilling. It’s the screenplay that lets everything down – from the clumsy foreshadowing of the bullets-in-the-rat-run at the start of the film, to the illogical behaviour of the Pack themselves: they kill the banker and a police officer en masse but, whenever they go after the family, they helpfully decide to attack one at a time, thereby giving our heroes the optimum chance to escape (or, on at least one occasion, they don’t even attack at all.) They also seem to have lost their sense of smell, which is fortunate because it means the farmer’s wife can hide behind a door with one of the dogs standing two feet in front of her and the dog still doesn’t catch her scent. It’s moments like those that make The Pack such a frustrating experience.

Still, all the performances are good, the direction is tight and the film is very well paced. The dog attacks are also extremely well done, even if the inevitable ‘no animals were harmed during the making of this motion picture’ proviso neuters the violence a fair amount.

Don’t go into The Pack expecting too much, and you might be nicely surprised. And if you’re a sheep, you should probably watch this with your eyes closed. But if you’re really in the mood for some humans-versus-mad dogs action, Robert Clouse’s similarly themed 1977 film – which also shares the same title – is much better.

THE PACK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: NICK ROBERTSON / SCREENPLAY: EVAN RANDALL GREEN / STARRING: ANNA LISE PHILLIPS, KATIE MOORE, KIERAN THOMAS MCNAMARA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

A film as lavish with its cinematography as it is with its depiction of faeces, violence and nudity, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover has lost none of its quiet shock value. The film is a stately depiction of the grotesque consequences of overwrought power, constant greed and forbidden lust.

The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover follows the evolving affair between a quiet bookshop owner, Michael, and a gangster’s wife, Georgina, who frequent a high-class restaurant that’s been captured by Michael Gambon’s superbly volatile mafia boss Albert. Michael and Georgina’s affair is doomed from the very beginning, but don’t take that as a spoiler folks. This is a film devoted to its own twisted, artificial nature.

The real star here isn’t Helen Mirren’s sultry yet innocent Georgina, it’s not Alan Howard’s gentle Michael, and it isn’t even Gambon’s larger-than-life embodiment of underworld excess – it’s the restaurant much of the film takes place in. Director Peter Greenaway invites us into this grand establishment, a home that encompasses villainous rogues feasting like pigs and a sensual affair that spirals from room to room, a labyrinth of hidden locations tucked away deep in the restaurant’s belly. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’s intoxication visuals belittle its limited location; but that location is omnipotent in its ability to convey this film’s strange, strangled take on dark humour.

By comparison the plot is a mundane matter, as Georgina and Michael’s affair is inevitably exposed, both Georgina and Albert realise that the only course of action is for heads to roll – that’s about it. However, as you may have guessed, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover finds substance in how its destructive romance is intertwined with the engrossing set pieces.

More than 25 years since its release, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover has lost little of its power. Its ability to shock is blended with a detached, unbothered sense of grace and elegance, as if the film is confident enough in its majestic atmosphere to deliver some animalistic savagery. With that grasp on its power remaining as strong as ever, it does of course mean that The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is as much an acquired taste as it was all those years ago. However, it’s a taste that certainly lingers on the tongue for quite some time.

THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER (1989) / CERT: / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: PETER GREENAWAY / STARRING: RICHARD BOHRINGER, MICHAEL GAMBON, HELEN MIRREN, TIM ROTH, ALAN HOWARD / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Bande À Part is one of Jean-Luc Godard’s most beloved films, and for a very good reason. It is absolutely timeless and incredibly charming.

To say too much about the story would be to spoil all the fun, but here’s a synopsis: Odile (Anna Karina) lives with her aunt in a suburb of Paris. When she meets Franz (Sami Frey) she tells him about the horde of money that is hidden inside the lodger’s room at her aunt’s villa. Together, Odile, Franz and Franz’s best friend Arthur (Claude Brasseur) plot to steal the money but both the young men have fallen for Odile and are competing for her affections while – to make matters even more complicated – Arthur’s crooked uncle (Ernest Menzer) finds out what they are planning and demands a piece of the action, which forces the three hapless gangsters to stage their heist sooner than planned. Things do not go well. There are double-crosses, bullets are fired, Odile, Franz and Arthur make a joyful impromptu attempt on the ‘sprinting through the Louvre’ world record, and there’s a very cool, extremely iconic, dance sequence, which many other directors have tried to reproduce but none have bettered (although Quentin Tarantino came closest, when he unleashed John Travolta and Uma Thurman on the dance floor in Pulp Fiction… yes, without Bande À Part that scene would never have happened.) There’s also a wonderfully dry narration, supplied by Godard himself, which performs a pretty clever sleight-of-hand – while keeping us outside of the action and reminding us we are watching a film, it also, at the same time, places us deeper inside the character’s heads and makes the film a more immersive experience. Put simply, Band À Part is a revolutionary blend of heist thriller, hipster romance and surrealist fairytale that, together with Godard’s earlier film (also a crime story) A Bout De Souffle (1960) defined the French New Wave and stylishly turned the conventions of European film-making inside-out. It is one of world cinema’s greatest masterpieces and if you haven’t seen it yet, you really are in for a treat.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the BFI’s new Blu-ray looks and sounds superb. Raoul Coutard’s cinematography is breath taking, and Godard’s gritty grimy interpretation of ‘60s Paris really jumps off the screen. There is also a treasure trove of wonderful special features including a full-length audio commentary, a terrific 2016 interview with Anna Karina, a delightful silent film starring Karina, Godard and Sami Frey and a whole handful of fascinating extras, including an especially interesting chat with Claude Chabrol, who, like Godard, was a film critic-turned-filmmaker whose work was instrumental in shaping nouvelle vague cinema.

C’est Magnifique!

BANDE À PART / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: JEAN-LUC GODARD / STARRING: ANNA KARINA, SAMI FREY, CLAUDE BRASSEUR, ERNEST MENZER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Notable as the first collaboration between George Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh, (they’d go on to make the Oceans films together, The Good German, plus the hugely underrated remake of Solaris), this steamy, sassy crime caper is almost, unbelievably, 20 years old. So, how has it aged? 

An adaptation of the novel by Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight keeps you guessing as serial bank robber Clooney escapes from prison, inadvertently taking a US Marshall as hostage, played by Jennifer Lopez. Once she’s released, she sets about pursuing Clooney and his small gang as they attempt to steal diamonds belonging to a former prison inmate who used to brag about the lucrative stash. But things get complicated when a) a rival gang intends to get their hands on the jewels and b) Lopez gets her hands on Clooney’s.

Things come to a head as the heist gets going, leaving us questioning whether the cop wants to get her man for love or for the law…

So, the film isn’t only noteworthy as the first Clooney / Soderbergh effort. Following his early career in more arthouse productions, it took a few years for Soderbergh to capitalise on the success of his debut, Sex Lies and Videotape, and it wasn’t until Out of Sight that he really found his feet in creating intelligent, stylish yet mainstream cinema. It’s a world away from the style of his previous work, and heralds the arrival of someone who would go on to make some pretty cool films, ranging from the super slickness of Ocean’s 11 to the intense and Oscar-winning Traffic.

The film also marks the emergence of Clooney as a major film star, finally throwing off the shackles of the small screen and giving a bona fide movie star performance. He oozes confidence and sex appeal, and is matched perfectly by Jennifer Lopez in what is still her best screen roll. She’s hotter than a baking potato on Bonfire Night and their scenes together sparkle with wit and sexuality. The heat between the pair is extra spicy, given that you’re never sure of her motives. It’s a tantalizing relationship and both stars play it perfectly.

Amongst the supporting cast, Albert Brooks is a treat as usual, as are Steve Zahn, Ving Rhames and Don Cheadle, and there’s a fantastic turn by Michael Keaton playing the same character he played in Tarantino’s glorious Jackie Brown.

In the end, despite the clever, witty script, the easy-cool style of Soderbergh, the spot-on score and the sumptuous photography, Out of Sight lives or dies on the chemistry between the two mains, upon which most of the tension hangs. Without that indefinable frisson, this could have ended up being simply a very good thriller. Fear not, though, Clooney and Lopez not only have chemistry, they add a whole new row to the periodic table, raising the temperature but also the movie to something beyond your standard criminal romance.

OUT OF SIGHT (1998) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: STEVEN SODERBERGH / SCREENPLAY: SCOTT FRANK / STARRING: GEORGE CLOONEY, JENNIFER LOPEZ, VING RHAMES, DON CHEADLE, ALBERT BROOKS / RELEASE DATE: 28TH MARCH

By the late 1970s, thanks to frequent appearances on The Tonight Show, SNL, and a series of massive-selling comedy albums, Steve Martin was already a superstar in America. A transition into movies was inevitable and, following small parts in the likes of The Muppet Movie, 1979’s The Jerk finally gave Martin his first lead role, and he revelled in it.

From the opening, where Martin informs us that he was born a poor black child (his reaction when he’s informed when he’s adopted: “You mean I’m going to stay this colour?”) The Jerk sets out its stall early. This is Martin at his absolute silliest, and therefore most brilliant.

At no point in the proceedings do things get any more sensible. Inspired by hearing jazz for the first time, he decides to leave his family and sets out to see the world…and promptly ends up settling down to work in the first place he stops: a gas station. From there on he embarks on a series of adventures, acquiring a dog which he christens ‘Shithead’; surviving assassination attempts; demolishing churches; working in a carnival; making and losing a fortune; and even finding true love. Truth be told, the plot is fairly inconsequential. It’s just an excuse to give Martin free reign to cause chaos, and he does so magnificently.

Martin’s anarchic humour has always been tempered with a sweet, romantic side, most notably evident in the brilliant Roxanne. Here he gives himself a rather tender love story, where his character romances both Bernadette Peters and (in this instance we’re using the word “romance” in its loosest possible sense) a carnival motorbike stunt rider. That’s by no means as sweet, but does have a genius scene where he loses his virginity, not to mention a great blow job gag, so we’ll allow it.

Director Carl Reiner – who cameos as himself, suing his leading man – surrounds Martin with a great supporting cast. Besides Peters (who gets to put her musical skills to good use), Jackie Mason crops up as the owner of Martin’s gas station, along with a psychotic M. Emmet Walsh, and Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb (who also co-scripted here).

Whilst The Man With Two Brains may be funnier, and Roxanne more consistent, The Jerk is a great early vehicle for Martin’s talent. Those only familiar with his more recent, inconsistent, family-friendly work should be in for a pleasant surprise seeing how funny he can be when given free reign. The Jerk is frequently hilarious, very silly, and essential viewing for fans of the great man.

THE JERK (1979) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: CARL REINER / SCREENPLAY: STEVE MARTIN, CARL GOTTLIEB, MICHAEL ELIAS / STARRING: STEVE MARTIN, BERNADETTE PETERS, M. EMMET WALSH, JACKIE MASON / RELEASE DATE: 28TH MARCH

More than a decade after his directorial debut Till Human Voices Wake Us, writer Michael Petroni is back directing another thriller with supernatural overtones, once again involving a psychologist whose past comes back to haunt him almost literally.

A year on from the death of his daughter Evie, in an accident he might have prevented, Peter Bower is throwing himself into his work. But when a young girl called Elizabeth Valentine turns up alone at his surgery, a chain of events is set into motion which will result in the exposure of a shocking crime from Peter’s youth, one which affected him more deeply and more personally than he has cared to remember.

Taking its tonal and thematic cues from The Sixth Sense by way of The Mothman Prophecies, Petroni’s film is deceptively slight, managing to pack an awful lot in to its eighty-plus minute running time. The cool visuals and chill pace are punctuated by sporadic bursts of activity, and the scares are effectively achieved, genuinely frisson-inducing despite their occasional familiarity. Petroni’s script and direction, however, keep Backtrack surprising in a number of ways. On the one hand the screenplay dances a deft foxtrot around its audience, anticipating their expectations and rewarding them yet simultaneously subverting the clichés of the genre as it does so; Petroni also answers the questions he raises remarkably quickly, hoodwinking the audience into looking in the wrong places, while building the illusion that the film is covering a lot more ground than it really does. If the last half-hour is somewhat telegraphed it’s the journey that brings you there that’s so satisfying. 

Petroni’s major achievement is in the performances he gets from his actors; it’s no secret that Adrien Brody is one of the greatest talents at work in the industry, criminally underutilised since The Pianist. Brody is just as good as he’s ever been here, and what’s pleasing is how the rest of the cast matches him, especially Robin McLeavy with whom he shares a particularly moving and mature scene, and even Sam Neill manages a subtle but major surprise in a relatively small but typically restrained role.

The supernatural element is very deliberately incorporated into the story, producing an ambiguous effect and adding an extra texture to an already layered and intelligent film; it’s likely that Backtrack will escape the attentions of both horror and mystery thriller buffs by sitting somewhere between the two genres, although its lineage as a perhaps more lurid and admittedly less substantial cousin to the likes of Lantana is clear and would make that a shame. This is no classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a quietly compelling if ultimately predictable little film.

Special Features: Interviews / Behind the Scenes / Deleted Scenes / Commentary

BACKTRACK / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: MICHAEL PETRONI / SCREENPLAY: MICHAEL PETRONI / STARRING: ADRIEN BRODY, SAM NEILL, ROBIN McLEAVY, GEORGE SHEVTSOV / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Hatched from the ever-expansive and creative mind of Richard Linklater, Waking Life is a pseudo-docudrama about a guy who is seemingly stuck within dream-state realities and as the film goes on; we go on this spiritual journey with him as he interacts with various individuals. With each interaction, many philosophical ideologies emerge, with the film delving deep into the concepts of the nature of reality, the meaning of life, existentialism, post-humanity, consciousness, dreams, and the notion of free will. Animated through rotoscoping, this is undeniably a truly unique viewing experience that will intrigue some, but might leave some frustrated.

Linklater tackles the ideas of the true nature of our existence and the way lucid dreams affect our perception of reality, as well as many other topics, but what makes the film striking by itself is its unique and flawless animation. Almost like a precursor to the similarly rotoscoped animated-film that Linklater would do later, the superb A Scanner Darkly, the animation in this film captures the unique and surreal vision Linklater set out to create, and through this rotoscoped portrait of philosophy, the film succeeds greatly in creating a dreamlike viewing experience for the suspecting viewer. Every now and then, we all experience those kind of dreams where you’ve gone somewhere and done something that could’ve been great or terrible, and then when you wake up, you vaguely remember the specifics, yet the thought is always there at the back of your mind. The film creates that same emotion, which is perfectly reflected by the animation’s fluid, water-like, characteristics and jumpy attitude.

The notion of spending an entire film talking about the philosophical notions of life, the universe and everything is surely going to sound like a chore for some, but what Linklater does is try to present those same concepts as they are, but through a unique film style, rather than going all out and trying to reinvent those ideas and notions. This goes to show how much of a versatile genius Linklater is as a filmmaker, after tackling many genres with comedies (School of Rock and Bernie) and dramas (Boyhood and the Before trilogy), but with every project he does, he tries something that is unique and different from the film he has done before. This could be seen like a semi-companion piece with Slacker, which dealt with people interacting and discussing philosophical topics, yet this stands out as its own entity.

That’s not to say the film is accessible to all audiences because, in truth, it isn’t, as some people will probably just get bored or frustrated by it and deride as nothing but naval-gazing balderdash. However, Waking Life is one of the most unusual and most thought-provoking films you’ll ever see, visually striking and superbly acted all round. With each and every person we encounter on the protagonist’s spiritual journey, it’s like we are eavesdropping on a meaningful conversation that holds real weight on emotion, highlighting the concept of the intertwining of one’s dream life with their “waking life” and how those can collide with other people’s as well. Memories become dreams and vice versa.

WAKING LIFE (2001) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: RICHARD LINKLATER / STARRING: WILEY WIGGINS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW 

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