08/22/97
MOVIEW REVIEW: Money Talks
A fun, breezy romp, despite a familiar plot

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

***1/2 (out of five)
Starring Chris Tucker, Charlie Sheen, Paul Sorvino, Heather Locklear, Gerard Ismael, Damian Chapa, Elise Neal, Michael Wright, Veronica Cartwright, David Warner, Paul Gleason, Daniel Roebuck. A New Line Cinema release written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, directed by Brett Ratner. Rated R, contains violence, profanity. Running time: 92 minutes.



The plot of Money Talks -- about a jive-talking ticket scalper who finds himself on the run from the cops, a gang of international diamond smugglers AND the man he owes $25,000, then joins forces with an investigative TV reporter who wants this story for a ratings sweep -- sounds like something that has been done 50 times on screen in the past few years.

But despite its familiarities, Money Talks is a surprisingly breezy, fast-paced romp that capitalizes on the bug-eyed effrontery of star Chris Tucker who even manages to make co-star Charlie Sheen look good.

Although I doubt that writing partners Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow grew up in the 'hood, they have a knack for gritty urban dialogue (the formula relies on more uses of the F word than I recall ever hearing before) that's tempered with wit and some genuinely hilarious set-ups.

Stand-up comic and actor Tucker, 24, who gave the wackiest performance of the year so far as the Oprah-like drag queen of The Fifth Element, has a high-pitched, annoying chatterbox voice and banjo eyes. But he can sure sell a joke.

At one point his Franklin Hatchett startles wealthy Beverly Hills businessman Guy Cipriani (Paul Sorvino) by announcing that he's the son of Vic Damone and calling Cipriani "paisan." This ruse immediately wins over Cipriani, who takes his new protege off to expensive places to impress him.

Franklin is wanted by the police because he escaped in a violently explosive jail break with Raymone Villard (French actor Gerard Ismael), the head of an international gem smuggling ring. The cops don't realize that Franklin got away only because he happened to be handcuffed to the jewel thief. Now Villard and his gang are after Franklin because he knows too much, especially about the whereabouts of a bag full of stolen diamonds he plans to make off with.

Franklin seeks help from TV reporter James Russell (Sheen), whose investigation led to Franklin's being in jail in the first place. Soon they're both on the run and dodging bullets, making subplot pit stops at a mansion belonging to Cipriani, who is the father of James's fiancee, Grace (Heather Locklear). James wants to hide Franklin until TV ratings sweeps week, when he can unveil him as a major coup.

Sheen serves as the fall guy for a lot of the jokes -- a bewildered straight man for Tucker's wilder flights of fancy. This odd-couple pairing works, especially when Sheen's James is startled out of his socks by one of Franklin's more bizarre outbursts.

There are plenty of action sequences to fuel the film's excitement, like a demolition derby through the streets of Los Angeles involving a 1951 mint-condition Jaguar convertible. We've seen this sort of stuff before, but getting there is more fun in Money Talks, which sets up the car-chase sequence at a fancy auto auction where the bidding war between high rollers takes a wacky turn. A nice addition, too, is the good cop-bad cop routine played out by the easygoing Paul Gleason and the hyper Daniel Roebuck throughout the movie.

Michael Wright is seriously funny as Franklin's boyhood friend who's now an extremely laid-back crime boss. Veronica Cartwright stands out as Grace's mother, who is suspicious of her future son-in-law's new buddy. Locklear just has to stand there looking gorgeous, but adds sincerity to her throwaway role as the bride.

There's not a lot new in Money Talks, right down to the big shootout at the Los Angeles Coliseum. Even the title sounds recycled. But it's handled with a light and fast-paced (if dirty-mouthed) touch by director Brett Ratner, whose previous output was in music videos, which gives a chuckle.