‘Money’: Solid Stars but Not Much Sense

“Where the Money Is” takes its title from a famous reply legendary thief Willie Sutton gave when he was asked why he robbed banks. However, crooks would be ill-advised to stick up the box offices at theaters where this tepid caper comedy is playing, for the take is not likely to be worth the risk. Not all the star power of Paul Newman, backed strongly by Linda Fiorentino and Dermot Mulroney, can pull off this job.

Caper comedies--films that take a humorous approach to the old heist plot--are not exactly the rage, but director Marek Kanievska and his writers don’t take into account that we’re not still in the ‘60s. The only way the film could have had a prayer of working--and thereby tapping its stars’ considerable strengths--is by taking a much harder edge and going for dark, even bleak humor. Instead, they turn the picture into a kind of good-natured romp.

The possibilities for a much tougher, better picture are there. Our first glimpse of Newman as Henry is of a paralyzed, mute and virtually comatose old convict in a wheelchair arriving from prison for treatment at a nursing home. When Fiorentino’s Carol, his nurse, discovers that Henry is a legendary thief, she starts dreaming of ill-gotten gains--if only she can get Henry to snap out of it.

Carol is a dutiful, kindly but bored professional who was queen of her high school prom. She married its king, Mulroney’s Wayne, but life has been downhill ever since when it comes to glamour and excitement. Wayne, in contrast, is settled and content in his quiet small-town existence. Wayne may be a sensible yet sexy guy devoted to his wife, but that’s not enough for Carol, who fears that she may end up in a nursing home herself without ever having “lived.”

Newman is so skilled an actor that it comes as a genuine surprise that Henry is faking a stroke as a way of escaping prison. By the time Henry emerges in Newman’s usual fit and vigorous form, Carol is determined to become his partner in whatever criminal activity he may have in mind. Newman, Fiorentino and Mulroney are all consistently sharp, but their material becomes progressively thin and contrived.

If only Fiorentino had a chance to bring more of that lethal quality she brought so memorably to “The Last Seduction’s” villainess, “Where the Money Is” might have been a different story and a much more enjoyable film.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for some sexual content. Times guidelines: amoral theme, a couple of steamy moments.

‘Where the Money Is’

Paul Newman: Henry

Linda Fiorentino: Carol

Dermot Mulroney: Wayne

A USA Films release. Director Marek Kanievska. Producers Ridley Scott, Charles Weinstock, Chris Zarpas, Christopher Dorr. Executive producers Tony Scott, Guy East, Nigel Sinclair, Chris Sievernich, Moritz Borman. Screenplay by E. Max Frye and Topper Lilien & Carroll Cartwright. Cinematographer Thomas Burstyn. Music Mark Isham. Costumes Francesca Chamberland. Production designer Andre Chamberland. Art director Martin Gendron. Set designer Jean-Pierre Paquet. Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes.

In general release.