Cool Money

I found out about this movie 24 hours ago, and in that time the summary on the main page has changed three times. Each of them made reference to James Marsters' most famous previous job, on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which may or may not be a good thing.

I'm not an obsessive fan (as far as you know), but he's a solid actor, and so is everyone in this movie who isn't playing a cop. This is a TV movie on USA, for crying out loud, where does it get off being GOOD? The last TV movie on USA I watched was "Hard Cash" with Christian Slater and Val Kilmer, and there is a prime example of two hours of my life I will never get back. While that was a movie made by a director and actors who are all on their way down, "Cool Money" (despite the lame title) is made with relative unknowns both behind and in front of the camera, and I hope to see them working again soon on newer and bigger things.

Director Gary Burns keeps the action moving along quickly, despite the obvious handicaps that are commercial interruptions, and having the budget of a USA TV-movie. The script, by Shelley Evans, doesn't exactly pop, but it's above average for what it is, and gives us some really great characters, even if the memorable lines are few and far between.

Even if you know nothing about Marsters, he's an actor with presence and the face of a man up to no good; he'd look right at home in any Guy Ritchie movie. High marks for this one, and extra bonus points for a shockingly good Margot Kidder as Comfort's New York mother.

Cool Money is based in true facts about a former convict Bobby Confort (James Marsters) that went to the jail for small robberies, after escape and arrested afterwards he claims at courthouse that already fulfilled his sentence, he was release at once , soon is back on business, now with a Italian crook descendant Sammy Nalo (John Cassini) with bad manners and wears kitsch clothes, they planning something big, the targets are the high class Manhattan hotels and their pulpy safe Boxes, he was double-cross by his jealous Policeman cousin Phil Parris (Schombing), the robberies are quite well and profitable, Bobby found enough, somehow Sammy has unexpected troubles with his former friends from Chicago's Mob, they must make the final job on first target hotel, wich they were outrageous expelled, a bit slow pace, but far away to be bad, has a fine veteran actor Wayne Robson as Doc a skilled thief, including the famous actress Margot Kidder as fiery Bobby's mom, let it see easily!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6

I thought the movie was pretty good. I agree that they did take some license with actual facts (Rochester Downs, should have been Batavia Downs). I believe that they did that in order to remain within a fairly small budget. Overall, I really liked the film. It was interesting and although it was not action packed, it didn't ever seem to move slowly. The characters were very believable and the dialogue was real. All the actors did a great job in making you want to root for the bad guys. It certainly made me interested in finding out more about the actual events on which it was based. Also, having James Marsters in the lead role didn't hurt at all.

This movie brings not only originality in its plot, but also the way the story is portrayed...from the point of view of Bobby Comfort, accenting on his life, his way of thinking, the different number of events that led to the Pierre Heist. The story seemed to start off slow and had i not been a James fan, i probably would have changed channels. It could have used a better script...but then again we are used to Joss, Marti, and David...so who could blame a Buffy fan for saying that? However the movie seemed to catch my interest as i kept watching. And then I began not only watching the movie for James but for the story. James brought so much depth to his character. Although well supported by other actors, James definitely stood out among them all as more talented, more capable, and more good-looking than the rest! I would definitely recommend this movie to all viewers!

if you're looking for a slick, cool, well-planned plot and a charismatic cast..this is the movie for you!

I thought this was a pretty good movie, but it bothered me that I couldn't figure out in what time period it was supposed to be set. The cars are usually a dead giveaway, but here we have one of the characters driving a mid '70's Ford sedan, one driving an late '80's GM station wagon, and the main character in what looks like a 2005 Chrysler. Not to mention the gang uses a late '90's Lincoln to drive to their heists. I figured that since there were no cell phones or computers it must be the mid-to-late '70's, but then seeing a modern electronic PBX telephone console at the hotel brings you back to the '90's! The acting and writing were quite good, and the movie moved along at a good pace. Enjoyable.