Movie Notes: Finder’s Fee
= 3 stars
Starring Erik Palladino, Ryan Reynolds, James Earl Jones
Directed by Jeff Probst
Synopsis
Tepper (Erik Palladino) finds a wallet containing a lottery ticket worth $6 million. Rightful owner Avery (James Earl Jones) comes to claim it, and ends up playing poker with Tepper’s friends for all the marbles.
The Good
- Written and directed by Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor and Fear Factor. Not a fan of those shows, so to find this movie mostly capable and actually interesting / entertaining was a pleasant surprise.
- Takes place in one location: Tepper’s apartment, and eventually a poker game ensues with several lottery tickets as the pot. Adding to the tension: Tepper is the only one who knows the worth of Avery’s ticket.
- Twisty plot had me wondering who knows what, when do they realize what they know, what will they do with the information, and who deserves the lottery money.
- Cast of decent actors, namely James Earl Jones and Ryan Reynolds (slowly creeping back on my good side). Reynolds’ character in particular takes a particularly sudden, game-changing action that had me hitting rewind.
The Bad
- Wonder why Tepper didn’t just return the wallet and say the lottery ticket wasn’t there when he found it.
- A late string of coincidences stretches belief, and the end, while a nice twist, is a huge leap in the “perfect timing” department.
- Palladino as the main character is passable, but a little too dull and shifty to be the film’s “everyman.”
- Unnecessary romantic subplot.
Conclusion
Better than I thought it would be. Suspend your belief and just concentrate on the neat performances. Worth a rental.
IMDB: Finder’s Fee
Wikipedia: Finder’s Fee
Rotten Tomatoes: Finder’s Fee 60%
I liked how this movie was essentially a filmed play. You can tell that this was a shoestring production that spent every available dime on getting good actors instead of window dressing.
I agree that Eric Palladino was miscast, but really liked the supporting cast — especially James Earl Jones & Matthew Lillard.
I’ve been looking forward to what Probst will pull out of his hat as a follow-up to this.
Yep was a decent flick (thanks for the recommendation) agree the James Earl Jones and Lillard (I seem to only know him from Scooby Doo) were great. And Ryan Reynolds, that guy needs to be in more decent movies.