Director: Blake Freeman
Writer: Blake Freeman (Screenplay) Danny West, Lester Korman, Jamie Starr, Blake Freeman (Story)
Starring: Eddie Griffin, Blake Freeman, Casper Van Dien, Danny Trejo, Jon Gries, Lin Shaye, Jose Yenque
Plot: A guy gets his 2 friends on a plane to Colombia making them believe it’s vacation. However, he plans on catching a drug lord and collect the $25M reward. They don’t speak Spanish and think Colombia is a city in Mexico.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Comedy
Story: All About the Money starts as we meet three friends that grew up together, Vincent (Freeman) hasn’t amounted to anything that he thought he would, Chris (Griffin) lets Vincent live on his sofa, while he is going through a divorce, while Kurt (Dien) is working for his father-in-law in a high pressure role.
After Kurt has a break down, Vincent takes the guys to Columbia in an attempt to capture known drug lord and collect the $25 million on his head, this leads to a wild adventure in a land they never even researched before getting there.
Thoughts on All About the Money
Characters – Vincent dreamed of big when he was a kid, he thought he would always make something big in life, now he lives on his friend sofa with no sight of a future, he sees a new way to get rich quick, which sees him take his friends to Columbia, believing it is part of Mexico, not the brightest, always planning would be his traits. Chris is the mechanic who is going through a divorce that reluctantly agrees to go on the trip, he plays into every black stereotype, believing he will be victimised because of his skin color. Kurt is the successful friend, only he is about to have a breakdown, which sees him lose everything, until on the trip he is taken by the drug lord they are trying to catch, where he gets forced into giving away information about to move drugs. Luis Diego is the bodyguard for the drug lord that does the dirty work for him.
Performances – Blake Freeman and Eddie Griffin work well together, even if the comedy is often a miss, while Casper Van Dien does get the most laughs through the film. The rest of the cast are fine, they don’t get enough time or just play along the lines of any Latin America.
Story – The story here follows three down on their luck friends that decide to head to Columbia to capture a drug lord only things don’t go to plan. The story does seem to keep things simple, showing mid-life crisis situations the guys are going through, though it just seems to be something of nothing. The story doesn’t tackle the real situations the guys are going through well enough, trying to get through the basic pains of life more than anything else.
Comedy – The comedy in the film doesn’t really do that much to help the film, with Kurt’s over the top reactions being the only interesting and funny part of the film.
Settings – The film does use the Columbia location to fill in the generic drug lord locations and the outside look at the country.
Scene of the Movie – Kurt’s reaction to life in Columbia.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The comedy just misses too often.
Final Thoughts – This is a disappointing comedy that tries too hard for the laughs, instead of focusing on the story needing to be told.
Overall: Bland Comedy
