Where is the money?

05 Nov, 2017 - 00:11 0 Views
Where is the money?

The Sunday Mail

Ordinarily I try as much as possible to stay away from straight to DVD flicks, the ‘B’ movies, but every now and then there comes a film that is simply hard to resist.

“Where is the Money”, the American comedy from Boies / Schiller Film Group, is one such exception. The film stars YouTube sensation Andrew Bachelor, better known by his moniker King Bach, and is a classic example of how basic comedy can actually be the cornerstone of a good movie.

Bachelor stars as Del, a South Central witty and street smart young man who faces the daunting task of trying to keep his family gym afloat.

Solace comes when his incarcerated father Dre (Mike Epps) calls him up and gives him the location of the loot he went to jail for. Dre’s brother and partner in crime Leon (Terry Crews) has just been released earlier than scheduled, and he fears that he might recover the money and skip town.

The catch, however, is that the building the two stashed the cash has been turned into a fraternity house and now Leon and Del must find a way to sneak into the house and retrieve the cash.

Del comes up with the “genius” plan of rushing the frat house, leading to some quirky gags, comic moments and pure movie magic. Fair and fine, this movie is riddled with a lot of clichés but who ever said that is bad?

Given that it had a budget of US$1,5 million, yes, that is not a mistake, the film relies on a line-up of YouTube actors, or as they are popularly known as — Vine stars — old and out of work comics and fresh new faces.

Mike Epps and Retta are arguably the biggest names in the films, while Kat Graham, of the “Vampire Diaries” fame is still relatively new to the big screen. These three are the anchors of the film and really help keep the movie moving at a steady pace as presumably Epps and Retta are given room to ad lib.

Bachelor — it feels really weird to call him that — and Paul Logan, are the two comic geniuses of the film, with the movie relying heavily on the two for much of the comedy. All the aforementioned names really put up five-star performances, with the film’s only weakness being Terry Crews, the less I say about that man the better. We get it, the 49-year-old is buff, but will he ever star in a film in which he does not take his shirt off?

The film’s biggest victory is all in the racial humour, something one has to expect when a film’s premises is basically about a young man from South Central rushing a frat house.

Writers Ted Sperling, Benjamin Sutor and Scott Zabielski do a stand up job in trading the fine line between flat out racism and racial humour.

I mean, it took me a while to get a grip on some of the gags that include a bunch of white guys roaming a black neighbourhood dressed in white supremacist regalia, the white guy calling a group of people slaves and a sorority auction that has a black guy in it.

The trick, in my opinion here, is that the writers make it a point to call themselves out and give a commentary on how and why such a word or action is racist.

The tool of choice is Devon Werkheiser, whose ignorant and dim witted character Brock is at the centrepiece of every gag. Props to the comic voice actor for really diving into the role, like a champ, and it is my humble opinion that he truly is the star of the movie.

With the Holiday season upon us, this movie truly is a must watch.

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