It seems to me that 'Money' is a perfect, elegant and flawless product; a very stylized classic drama. While I was watching it, movies like The Rope (Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) or Wait Until Dark (Terence Young, 1967) came to my mind. The movie is concise, pragmatic and straightforward. Its goals are clear and they know how to reach them. Its message is, on top of that, beautiful, illuminating and not indulgent. The tension is built up in a superb manner for a movie that needs to keep us in suspense. And the director's work with the actors is sublime. With perhaps the exception of Kellan Lutz, more inexpressive, they are all splendid, and that makes the text shine and the credibility of what is taking place escalate. In that sense, the actor's direction is spectacular. At times, the necessity of filming hastily is noticeable, but not so much because of the editing, which is perfect, with just some isolated glimpses that can be observed. However, it is more noticeable in the staging: it looks like there wasn't time to plan a proper communicative meaning beyond what's functional. There is not a genuine relationship between the characters and the space, not a single shot provides more information than what the characters verbally announce. It would have been a spectacular movie if they had taken more risks in that sense. It would have been even better if they had what every movie lacks of: time! But, in spite of that, everything in 'Money' is believable, accurate and intense. Concision, focusing on a single location, a right pace in the dialogues, witty replicas and great performances are but a few of its virtues. In that sense, 'Money' is a complete success.
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labutacaazul26 November 2016
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Prabhat_KS9 November 2016'Money' is a well-made thriller flick revolving around some dough which is earned unethically by two white-collar friends. A smooth talking professional criminal gets a whiff of the dough and comes to snatch it upfront. But the plan goes haywire and the story takes a twist. Relationships are tested under stress and people don't remain same anymore. 'Money' somewhat reminded me of another great thriller from last year, 'The Invitation', which had somewhat similar settings and premise.
The movie ticks all the boxes of a good thriller with lot of dialogue and couple of twists thrown in. Script is well knit. The setting of the story is small and neat. Almost whole story is located in a posh residence and its neighborhood. Jamie Barber playing the suave professional criminal with a hard British accent provides a nice touch to the story. But there are a few unrealistic moments in the film where the director and writers took artistic liberty for sake of keeping the story thrilling. And the screenplay is a bit slow paced for a thriller.
It's refreshing to see Jess Wiexler in a serious role. I'm her fan since I saw 'Teeth' during my grad days. She has a substantial role in this story and it's satisfying to see her in a mature talking role.
All in all, 'Money' is a good one-time-see thriller which can be enjoyed anytime of the week and any hour of the day. Running for some 1 hour 20 minutes only it packs a decent return on time.
My vote: 6.5/10. -
darrylmrl15 November 2016Gave this movie a 6 - as it executed very well throughout the main story - however it's ending has more flaws than the Pontiac Aztec. I have a huge issue with giving high marks to a movie that just can't execute on its landing. In the words of Teddy KGB - just like a young man coming in for a quickie ... I feel so unsatisfied. What is satisfying though is watching Jamie Bamber execute a Christian Bale like performance for his character John (a Patrick Bateman like character). A very well educated psychopath who's out to take what's his at whatever the cost. Christian Bale would be proud of Bamber's performance. Bamber was the MVP of this movie without question. The other actors could've been played by anybody and it wouldn't of mattered much. The most disappointing turn of events that didn't sit right with me -- was the wife's actions near the end of the movie. I won't spoil it - but you end up being betrayed by all the previous character development that had taken place. Maybe the moral of the story is that you really never know anybody?
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joshjoyce16 November 2017This movie started out with so much potential... And then the unexplained gaps in the plot started. All of the momentum completely stopped. The last 30 minutes of the movie was awful... The ending was awful... Way too many loose ends. *spoiler alert* The ignorant and extremely rude wife ends up leaving with some of the money after all that...? This movie was trash.. How did anyone rate this above 2 stars?
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ginocox-206-33696812 November 2016"Money" is a passable Monster-in-the-House/Heist-Gone-Wrong character-driven drama. It seems somewhat hampered by an obviously limited budget. About 95% of the action takes place in and around an isolated residence with a core cast of five people. Much of the story is relayed through dialogue; however, the dialogue is generally reasonably clever. Jamie Bamber, as the villain, largely drives the plot, with credible supporting performances by Jesse Williams, Lucia Guerrero and Fredric Lehne. Unfortunately, over-reliance on jiggly-cam shots is obvious and frequently distracting. The story doesn't break any new ground and several of the plot points are predictable. It doesn't have much to offer in the way of theme or character arcs and there really isn't a good protagonist to balance Bamber's villainy. For a film titled "Money," with an alternate title of "$," one would think they would at least get the stage money right. The bills look authentic, but there aren't nearly enough of them. What is supposedly five million dollars can't be more than half a million. As low budget direct-to-video fare, it's okay. It's watchable, but not a film one would want to view repeatedly to appreciate subtle nuances.
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hewito9 November 2016Someone here wrote a 10/10 review and I can only think it was the writers or directors family member. This movie tries so hard to keep you guessing that at the end it becomes very plain(like the pastel filter used in this movie.,I am sure the budget of this movie was very low(too much if you ask me)as its filmed in just a few locations.You might think its simplicity would reflect a much thought out script but it fails to transfer any emotions. Maybe I am not hipster or young enough but this movie I will recommend to wait until it comes in DVD,throw the CD out and use the case to balance your table,that is all its good for.
Evening..... -
nogodnomasters5 July 2017Amazon has combined reviews of films with the same title. This is for the 2017 film.
Mark (Kellen Lutz) and Sean (Jesse Williams) work for big Pharma and are not beneath in dealing trade secrets which allows them to split $5 million dollars. Sean and Christina (Lucía Guerrero) who is Sean's girlfriend du jour, arrive for a get together with Mark and his wife Sylvia (Jess Weixler). The women do not know about the money. John (Jamie Bamber) the new neighbor shows up and changes the genre to a home break-in film.
The film was a conflict of characters. Kellen Lutz provided hit and miss acting. The drama scene in the kitchen with his wife was poorly scripted and the low spot of the feature. John and Sylvia were the likable characters, and Christina was confusedly written being educated, yet acting in a negative fashion.
Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. -
rodoval21 January 2018Throughout the beginning and mid way of the film the story had a lot of potential, in my personal opinion the ending wasn't that good at all. But I guess that's just life, it doesn't need to be always fair.
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rrorchid27 July 2017The setup is promising: two young big pharma executives have just sold their company's trade secrets to a rival for a cool $5 million. Their celebration however, proves to be premature. A man posing as the next door neighbor has a different plan for the money. This is a good setup for what is in essence a psychological thriller, involving 5 characters and a gun.
However, despite good performances by all actors in this film (standing out is Jesse Williams with his very credible performance as a coke sniffing jerk), the plot has just too many twists and turns, pushing the boundaries of plausibility and eroding its credibility to the point where it seems artificially contrived and somewhat predictable. To begin with, the main antagonist, played by Jamie Bamber, is a villain who could also pass for James Bond with his suave look and British mannerism. He also knows too many intimate details about his heist victims, something which is never explained in the movie plot. And talking about a movie plot, there are just too many plot holes to count and sheer implausibility bordering on ridiculous, like the recurring "easily escapable situation" (as Austin Powers would put it), which opens the door for the twists.
Money is no Agatha Christie but in the end it is however a watchable movie and reasonable entertainment with its main strength coming from its cast. Bring your popcorn, don't think too much, and you may end up having a good time. -
xhidden997 July 2018This was filmed in 2015 but it's clear that Jesse Williams was forced on this production at the last minute and squeezed into filming in under a week for the money. Money for the movie and money for Jesse. The rest of the casting is a shambles; meat puppet Kellan Lutz as a chemical engineer and chief scientist at a pharma firm? Christina the chain smoking Spanish girlfriend? Poofy Brit with a gun? Sylvia the aggrieved WASP? Oh my god what a train wreck. 2 healthy strong men can't overpower one guy as he sits with a drink in hand, pontificating? Wives and dates seemingly utterly unaffected by mind bending violence and no one questions it?
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alvaro-congosto13 November 2016There is not an extra word or an extra shot in Money. Everything is brilliantly calculated to take the audience on a smooth ride. There are no explosions or fireworks in here. It's all about humans making choices and making mistakes based on their darkest ambitions. I enjoyed very much the performances and how the script can flip the circumstances upside down in just a second. There is some kind of seductive coldness in this film. It didn't make me care particularly for any of the characters. Instead I was fascinated watching their actions and decisions. The film kept me intrigued until the very end. The premise is simple yet the unfolding is quite elegant and believable. I recommend this film to anyone that likes smart thrillers that rely on human psychology.
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ma-cortes11 August 2021Stars two corporate spies with a $5 million haul for selling secrets triggering a complex intrigue to gain the upper hand. At a countryhouse there's a reunion between a marriage : Mark (Kellan Lutz) , Sylvia (Jess Weixler) and a couple : Sean (Jesse Williams) and Christina (Lucía Guerrero) , but then things go wrong when there appears a stranger called John (Jamie Bamber) . There are only two things wrong with money: too much or too little. In greed we trust.
An intriguing film in short budget with twisted mysteries , emotion , thrills , action and suspense . This is a highly mysterious and cerebral thriller about two couples are held hostages by a thief, resulting in a game of cat and mouse , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected denouement in its ending part . From start to finish the complicated intrigue , fast-paced , thrills , and suspense result to be continuous . Hitchcock-style psychological thriller , being surprisingly good and compellingly shot . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . The main cast is frankly good , such as : Jesse Williams , Kellan Lutz , Jamie Bamber , Jess Weixler , Lucía Guerrero and brief appearance by Fredric Lehne as the gardener . The picture is very well , though sometimes stagy and it has a lot of turns . However , being very entertaining for its successive suspense . This mystery murder was stunningly financed by American/Spanish producers and competently realized , though in low budget . This interesting as well as suspenseful thriller displays a colorful and luxurious cinematography by director Jose Martín Rosete himself . Being shot on location in Woodbury, Long Island, Montauk , New York, Southampton, Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, Hampton, New Jersey , USA . Adding an adequate and atmospheric musical score by Alfonso González Aguilar.
This recent film by Spanish director Martin Rosete was well and professionally directed . This was Rosete directorial debut , an American/Spanish thriller , written by Josep Ciutat and produced by Atit Shah. Rosete previously realized short movies , such as : Mexican Cuisine , Basket Bronx , Voice Over , Descenso , I Wish and was invited to the Berlinale Talent Campus at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2003 and won over 100+ awards across 300 film festival selections for Voice Over including winner of Best European sci-fi short film and nominated for a Goya (Spanish Academy Award) in 2012 . In 2018, Rosete directed Remember Me, an American-Spanish-French romantic comedy starred two-time Oscar Nominee Bruce Dern and Golden Globe Winner Brian Cox , the movie released theatrically in 2019 getting success enough . This Money (2016) is well worth watching and it packs several thrilling as well as suspenseful scenes . Rating : 7/10 , Above average ; it is a highly mysterious movie that keeps you interested and expecting. -
tommyshaw-9561129 November 2016This is my first ever review, I started with this film as myself and my wife watched it only a few nights ago. I'm going to keep this pretty short and not so sweet, I wish I would of gone to sleep instead of staying up to watch this, there was nothing in this film that got me interested to see how it all turned out. There was a few occasions while watching this film that I looked to see what the time was to work out how long in the movie was left which is never a good sign in my book. On a small positive note there was a few small parts of the film which made me smile and have a little giggle even though I'm not sure as an audience we were meant to find this particular part funny but I did.
If your after a film to watch with your wife for date night I would recommend you skip this one. -
bel0012 November 2017Not that this is a bad film. But there are number of things that are somewhat annoying: too much dialog, characters and situations that aren't really believable and a story that is somewhat predictable. Settings are OK, director tries to give a visual touch but the film smells to much like a stage play. But hey, the actors are OK and the story is still strong enough to keep your attention. All by all a film that is easy to see but also easy to forget.
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Wizard-828 July 2019I confess that I am always up to a good home invasion-style thriller, because these movies always have me asking while watching what I would do if I were in that particular situation. Though I must confess that I have seen so many of these home invasion-style thrillers that it takes a lot nowadays for me to consider a new entry in this genre to be good. Fortunately, "Money" manages to work pretty well. Its opening is kind of deceitful, almost promising that the movie will be some sort of comedy, but eventually it turns into a suspenseful story that had me guessing throughout how everything would be wrapped up. While not given a high budget, the movie looks decent enough, and the movie's other features such as the convincing acting and characters on top of the suspense factors make up for any of the minor shortcomings. While I wouldn't say this is a classic of its genre - for one thing, there are no real "big" scenes that will really sear into your brain and make you unable to forget about them - the movie does its job well enough to be both entertaining and suspenseful.
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Info-340-32306712 November 2017The film is watchable enough and passes the time quite easily. However the acting is abysmal and why oh why do we keep film-makers keep making the bad guy a middle aged pompous English twit, which an accent that is seldom heard in England unless one visits a Royal Palace. The accent was silly and affected and does not reflect how English people speak. Even the aristocracy do not sound like this. The acting performances and silly accents make the film very hard to take seriously, it is a wooden film with every plot turn expected and in some cases down right ludicrous. How anyone can possibly rate this film above 5 is beyond my understanding.
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toralyoshida20 September 2020Poorly acted, poorly script. Not believable at all!! Terrible plot. Stopped watch an hour into it..
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claudio_carvalho14 February 2021"Money" is a film with an interesting beginning: two couples are having a dinner party when a new neighbor knocks at the door and is invited by the hostess to join the party. Soon the social masks of hosts and guests fall and the real character of each player is disclosed in a cat and mouse game. Unfortunately the screenplay is absolutely flawed and the characters are non-likable and stupid (with the exception of the gardener). There are unanswered questions, like how the manipulative John knows so many details of Sylvia and Mark lives and home. The tart Christina is maybe the most stupid character. How the Sylvia, Mark and Sean discuss personal problems in front of John and Christina? What happened to Sean's car and his body? Was the police informed about his fate? My vote is three.
Title (Brazil): "Dinheiro em Jogo" ("Money at Stake") -
ricarnell22 November 2016I really didn't expect a lot from this film, having Googled the reviews, but it caught my attention from the get go. Not familiar with Bamber's work, but will be looking for more from him. Kept my attention for the duration & loved the ending. Highly recommend this film. Ranks way up there with the Thriller genre. A previous reviewer suggested that this was perfect for Christian Bale. Agreed. The other actors could have been anyone but acceptable for this assignment. Didn't really see the connection with the father in the opening scenes, but essential for the ending I suppose. Loved the interaction with the scorned wife & the psychopath while waiting for the safe to open.
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So many gaps I don't even know where to start. Too bad, it had a potential
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yada21214 October 2020That's what I would have titled this simple film. It starts out rather slow, in my opinion. If you had not read the brief describing in, you wouldn't have guessed the plot. It starts out with kind of a "Friends" tv show friendly encounter between two couples. But, I had the feeling from near the beginning that Sylvia might be in league with the intruder/master thief. Her smile at the end gave me the sense that she may have provided the master thief with the intelligence he needed to plan his heist. All the character development though, was a bit lacking. Did Sylvia simply escape her gilded cage? Or, did she take her cut from the master thief and flee her disappointing situation? Only better character development would help eliminate the unnecessary suspense at the end of this 'who done what to whom' plot.
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moody-richard13 August 2020Pointless garbage. Movies like this are usually built around interesting twists. This movie is twist free. Only got two stars because it could help with insomnia.
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josh-m-563-43911313 December 2019While watching the opening scene I commented out loud, "This feels flat". I should have taken the warning and stopped it right then, but unfortunately I endured through to the end. The lead female actor sucked the energy out of nearly every scene - just flat and emotionless. The editing and especially the backing music made the whole movie fall flat. (The lighting of the scenes was the excellent though. I think that was the most professional part of the production).
The script showed potential, but then had so many problems, leaving annoying unanswered questions and failed to deliver authentic character development. Overall, very disappointing. -
phildelmazio13 November 2016In one word: "Wonderful"!
This motion picture had me engaged from start to end. The twists and turns in the plots keeps one guessing constantly as to what might come next. I often find film plots predictable and easy to figure out. Not "Money". Each action by one of the characters had me shifting where things may go next. The characters were very believable and properly cast for.
The fact that most of the film was set on one site was genius. The viewer of the film feels "captive" in the home/patio along with the two couples being terrorized by the surprise visitor.
The ending, which takes place in a much more urban setting, was totally unexpected, but welcome. A great surprise to cap the end of a very engaging film.
Looking forward to viewing this film a second time. -
michael-6869515 November 2016"Money" is what happens when determined production creatives and talent come together and hold true to the art of film making. In the current environment where CGI/SFX often play a larger role than direction, talent and cinematography (on even the lowest budget fare), Money is a refreshing departure.
This is pure and simple story telling. Not flashy, not over produced. Straight to the point - I'm a fan. Martin Rosete gives up everything we need to know, then let's us decide for ourselves who's right by turning each character on their head. All of this is done with clever dialogue, solid performances by the cast and what essentially amounts to three locations - although the primary location accounts for 95% of the screen time which I think shows a lot of guts.
Well done!