Money Talks (1997)

Summary: Franklin Hatchett is a small time criminal who is outed by reporter James Russell, and arrested. In jail he is transferred in a bus handcuffed to a French criminal Raymond Villard. During the transfer Villard is rescued by mercenaries, taking Hatchett with him, but the latter is able to escape by jumping out of a helicopter. Hatchett is helped by Russell who wants an exclusive since he has been fired by the station. Once the two are together Russell’s fiancée and her rich father, Guy, become involved. Hatchett and Guy end up at a classic car auction  where they bid for a Jaguar XK140 against Villard, since it contains a cache of diamonds. Hatchett steals the car and finds the diamonds and then arranges a meet with all the villains he knows at the LA stadium. Meanwhile Villard has kidnapped Russell in his effort to find the diamonds. How will it all end?

Content: No sex or nudity, or drinking, smoking or drug taking. Russell is seen interviewing Hatchett. Quite a lot of violence as Villard and Hatchett are rescued and everyone else in the bus is killed, as it is blown in half and the survivors machine gunned. The police bumble a bit. Scenes in Russell’s future father-in-law’s luxury house where a party is taking place, where Hatchett pretends, unaccountably, to be Vic Damone’s son. There are some classic cars at the car auction and a car chase with Hatchett driving the XK140. A showdown takes place at the stadium with everyone there shooting at each other.

A View: This film was dissed by the critics but probably made money.  Apparently the screenplay was developed by Canadian Steve Chase, but he left due to creative differences with Tucker, who demanded many changes to the script. Well – Chris Tucker might be a very nice man, but I disliked his on screen persona, and I still wonder how a film in which many people are machine gunned to death could be called a comedy. It is this part of the plot which makes me think of it as a don’t watch. It is an unpleasant hour and a half. Its only redeeming feature is the inclusion of a couple of real classic cars in the car auction.

Chris Tucker and Brett Ratner are probably best known for the “Rush Hour” franchise. I have not seen or reviewed any of them.