Money Talks

Summary

“Same time, man, same time!”

In 1995, Chris Tucker was allowed to shine in two very different films – the dramatic Dead Presidents by the Hughes Brothers, and the classic stoner comedy Friday. Friday was a big success theatrically with over twenty eight million at the box office off of a three and a half million dollar budget, but it did even better as a staple on cable television and on home media. Friday made Chris Tucker a star with his great comedic performance as Smokey. The studios took notice, and in 1997 Chris Tucker was given a big supporting role in Luc Besson’s science fiction film The Fifth Element and a starring role in Brett Rattner’s Money Talks. Money Talks is a buddy action-comedy in the tradition of 48 Hrs. or Beverly Hills Cop. It was the first pairing of director Brett Rattner with Chris Tucker and the movie essentially established a formula that they would perfect with 1998’s Rush Hour by pairing Chris Tucker with Jackie Chan. Rush Hour was outrageously successful and spawned two sequels. I had not revisited Money Talks in over twenty years, but I was excited to see that Warner Archive Collection had decided to give the film a Blu-ray release. I remember that two of my best friends in high school loved Money Talks and they quoted it all the time as we were growing up. My oldest son loves Rush Hour, so we watched Money Talks together the other night.

Franklin Hatchett (Chris Tucker) is a small time hustler. He owes money to people all over Los Angeles, and runs hustles on scalped tickets to sports events and concerts to make extra money while working at a car wash. Investigative journalist James Russell (Charlie Sheen) interviews Franklin onscreen before the cops arrest Franklin based on his tip. When James gets back to the station and shows the story to his boss Barclay (David Warner,) he is unceremoniously let go. This is particularly bad timing for James, because the next week is sweeps week. Across town, Franklin is handcuffed to Raymond Villard (Gerard Ismael) and loaded onto a bus to be transported to jail. While the bus is in transit, Raymond’s plan goes into action. A bomb cuts the bus in half. A helicopter flies down with Raymond’s colleagues. They machine gun the jailers and the prisoners. Franklin is spared simply because he is handcuffed to French criminal Raymond. They hop into the helicopter. Raymond’s henchman Dubray cuts the handcuffs in half. Franklin listens in as they talk about twenty one million dollars, diamonds, and a jaguar. Realizing that they will kill him, Franklin jumps from the helicopter to the water below. When Franklin is spotted by police and flees, he sees an advertisement for James Russell. Franklin calls the station and reaches James. Seeing an opportunity for a huge exclusive at the start of sweeps week, James decides to harbor Franklin until Monday. There is only one other complication, James is set to get married to Grace Cipriani (Heather Locklear) that weekend. Soon the two mismatched partners are on the run from the police and the French mercenaries while trying to keep the wedding on the books.

The plot of Money Talks is essentially nonsense. The script by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow is really just an excuse to allow Chris Tucker and Charlie Sheen to play off of each other for comedic effect. It works. If you can basically turn your brain off in regards to the actual “plot” of Money Talks and just allow the film to be funny, the film has a lot of very funny moments. The interchanges between Charlie Sheen and Chris Tucker may not be as dialed in as the interchanges between Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour, but Chris Tucker is absolutely hilarious in Money Talks. I laughed for the duration of the film, even as the plot became more and more absurd simply because Chris Tucker is super damn funny. The film surrounds Chris Tucker with participants that allow him to shine including Grace’s rich and warmhearted dad played by Paul Sorvino, and an on-again off-again jealous girlfriend Paula played by Elise Neal. In every scenario, Chris Tucker digs in and says funny things. Whether he introduces himself as Vic Damone Jr. or tries to remind a gun dealer that they have been friends since they were children, the scenes only work because of his impeccable comedic timing. Charlie Sheen is a solid straight man for Tucker to bounce lines off of. The bad guys are completely ridiculous and Gerard Ismael fails to intimidate in his role of Raymond Villard, but it really doesn’t matter. Brett Rattner directs the action sequences efficiently, although this all feels like training for the stunt work and action that would take place in Rush Hour. 

Overall – I had a great time revisiting Money Talks. The plot is absolutely absurd and almost a nonfactor, but the laughs are definitely there.

Video

Warner have done a fantastic job on the transfer of the film in 1080p using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The film has been placed on a BD-50 which allows it to shine with no compression issues whatsoever. The cinematography by Russell Carpenter and Robert Primes takes advantage of wide angle lenses to craft some engaging action sequences. The film’s action sequences will always pale in comparison to the next year’s Rush Hour, but I really like the way a number of moments are staged. A sequence that jumps out to me would be when Franklin calls in a bomb threat to a club from a telephone booth. The wide lens allows the actions to play out onscreen with the telephone booth and the club entrance in the same shot. There isn’t anything revolutionary about the look of the film, and it is not extremely stylized, but it gets the job done. Fine detail is excellent. There are no print issues. Fans will be very pleased to have the film with such a great looking transfer.

Audio

Warner has provided a very capable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that capably replicates the original sound design of the film. The movie features the song “You’re the First, The Last, My Everything” by Barry White alongside the songs “Car Wash” by Rose Royce, and “Pusherman” by Curtis Mayfield and more. The film features a fun score by the great Lalo Schifrin. The score  one of his more memorable efforts, but it works. There are no issues to report with the track. Fans will be pleased.

Supplements:

Theatrical Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – .5/5

Overall – 4/5

Money Talks is an extremely funny buddy action movie. The film was critically dead on arrival due to its ridiculous plot, but for those of us that can turn our brains off and just laugh at Chris Tucker’s numerous hilarious moments in the picture, it’s an absolute success. While the film never reaches the heights of buddy films that came before it such as 48 Hrs., Beverly Hills Cop, or Lethal Weapon, Money Talks is a great test run for the better written and better executed Rush Hour which came out the next year. While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I had a great time watching Money Talks with my oldest son. Warner Archive’s new Blu-ray features a great looking video transfer and solid audio. Recommended!

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.