45 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
45 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
the keen wisdom of an elderly bank robber , the naive ambitions of a sexy hospital nurse , and a partnership that blossoms between the two are the fine components that make up a modest , little caper adventure entitled `where the money is . '
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the elderly bank robber is henry ( paul newman ) , a famous criminal that was only recently caught .
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he has pulled off dozens of successful heists and has probably stashed away a small fortune .
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always the shrewd thinker , he begins working on a plan to get out of jail .
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this involves years of studying buddhism and self-hypnosis .
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when he is prepared to execute his plan , he uses what he has learned to fake a stroke .
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now a seemingly twitching vegetable , he is temporarily transferred to a state-run home .
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carol ( linda fiorentino ) is the nurse that cares for him .
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she's a very bright person with a good heart .
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yet , her life is a miserable waste of time .
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the most exciting thing to do in town is to fix cars .
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her days at the hospital facility are spent leading wheelchair calisthenics .
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worse , she's in a dead-end relationship with high-school sweetheart wayne ( dylan mcdermott ) .
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they became a couple because they were king and queen of the prom .
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to her , this made sense long ago .
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but now , it's a different story .
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wayne seems equally bored with his life , but is content enough to stay put .
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wayne's greatest ambition is to become a night shift supervising foreman .
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carol feels as lifeless as many of the other hospital patients , but she's never been anywhere else and doesn't see many other opportunities in life .
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however , when henry falls under her care , her outlook begins to change .
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the medical reports may state that he suffered a massive stroke .
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carol , however , begins to grow suspicious that henry may just be faking it after all .
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maybe she can get through to him , and maybe she can learn something about the money that he has stashed away .
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the opening 30 minutes are filled with hilarious attempts of carol trying to bring henry ? back to life . '
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and what are some of carol's resuscitation techniques ?
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perhaps an erotic lapdance might stir his senses .
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if that fails , maybe she'll try a little shock therapy by pushing him off a 20-foot high pier into the cold lake below .
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when he finally comes out of his state of self-trance , the movie's direction changes , though it remains equally if not more entertaining .
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carol sees that henry is filled with charisma and self-assuredness .
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she is invigorated by his commanding presence and refreshed by his vibrancy .
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this , of course , puts wayne in an odd situation .
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henry and carol's bond grows stronger when they enter into an agreement to rob an armored car .
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henry needs this heist because he is unable to retrieve his original stash .
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meanwhile , this is carol's ticket to a better life .
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wayne is uncomfortable with the situation , but helps out nonetheless .
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however , his lack of commitment threatens their success .
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the heist sequence is suspenseful , well paced , and casts the uneasy feeling that something will horribly go wrong .
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`where the money is' does more to spotlight newman and fiorentino than it does to showcase a story about a nifty heist .
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newman is the real joy of the film , adroitly showing that at age 75 , he's still really hot stuff .
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he possesses a sly smile , displays a dominating attitude , and a projects a demeanor that is undeniably attractive .
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fiorentino is also a fun presence .
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you root for her despite her sense of amorality .
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sure , she wants to commit robbery and has little compunction about pushing a wheelchair-stricken man into a lake , but we can see that to escape her dead-end world , she needs to do something drastic .
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with two charismatic characters such as these , it's hard to ignore that `where the money is' is where the fun is .
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