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43 reviews in total

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44 out of 48 people found the following review useful:
Very enjoyable movie, 23 October 2003

Author: c16031 from Montreal

When I'm in the mood for a movie, I usually go to IMDB to check out it's rating. I try to avoid seing movies below a rating of 7. Who's got time to lose listening to a bad movie, right?

Then, as I surf IMDB, I sometimes wander around checking other user's impressions of movies I've seen, I'm curious that way. And as I do that, I can also get a feel of the credibility I can give the rating system.

Well, the rating I saw for "Other People's Money" blew my mind! I can't believe it has such a low rating. It's one of my favorite movies. I love the script, the clashing of ideas and values. I love the characters, the're very representative, opinionated, true and strong, and they're very well played. The movie's full of strong scenes: Garfield's first visit to the New England Wire's Co ("I like round numbers"), Garfield's chewing of his lawyer's ("You know what happens when the commies take over, the first thing they do is shoot all the lawyers!"), and of course the stockholder's meeting scene which alone is worth the whole movie. It is one of my most memorable movie scenes ever. I seriously have a hard time finding flaws in this movie.

I've read reviews about how it wasn't true to the play - I didn't even know it started out, or was based on a play. I guess a lot of IMDB voters were disappointed in the treatment this movie made of the play and accordingly gave a bad score. My point is: so what? A movie should be judged upon what it is, not what it could or should have been. It deserves to be evaluated fairly as a "whole", not in relation to doubtful and personal expectations. I hate biased ratings.

After seing the score this movie got on IMDB, I've lost a lot of faith in the value of using the rating system as a bearing for movies I'll want to see. My advice: don't be fooled. See this movie and judge for yourself.

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27 out of 30 people found the following review useful:
Brilliant film, 20 January 2002

Author: javaguru from San Diego

Danny DeVito is sensational as Lawrence Garfield, aka. Larry the Liquidator.

The movie was chugging along nicely, but nothing special until the proxy fight where Andrew Jorgenson, the we've-always-done-it-this-way founder of the company, and "Larry the Liquidator" give speeches to the assembled shareholders. After Jorgenson's speech I was about to write the movie off as another flawed Hollywood portrayal of business and economics, but then comes Larry's speech which is the high point of the movie. Larry's speech is absolutely fantastic and surprising.

The rest of the movie is filled in nicely if not spectacularly. The romance between Larry and Jorgenson's smart and attractive lawyer Kate Sullivan is a nice touch and serves to add another dimension to DeVito's character. The resolution with Jorgenson's company at the end is contrived and the only real detraction from the movie, but that's Hollywood.

One of my all-time favorite movies. I give it a 9, and that puts it in my top 5%.

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16 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Engaging and intelligent, 6 January 2001
Author: jessfink (jessfink@aol.com) from NYC

In no way whatsoever does this film compare to the play upon which it was based. That having been said, however, it stands very nicely on its own if one does not have any expectations going in. Danny DeVito, one of my all-time favorite character actors, brilliantly and flawlessly portrays Larry Garfield, corporate raider, known to those in the trade as "Larry the Liquidator". If you are reading this, chances are you have read other reviews which recap the plot points, so in lieu of boring you I will just add my recommendation that you will not go unrewarded if you give this one a try.

Certain other elements, like the controversial casting of Penelope Ann Miller, the near-absence of Piper Laurie's character, and most seriously, the total absence of other key plot elements from the play which contributed to the overall emotional impact of the piece, leave something of a regret in one's mouth after watching the film is over...you see glimmers of what might have been, see the hint of the masterpiece that might have been created, and wonder what sacrifices had to be made by the filmmakers at the studio level in order to make this film at all.

Worth seeing for DeVito's masterful, lovingly crafted and enthusiastically delivered performance.

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16 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
not as bad as some say, 9 July 1999

Author: Robert D. Ruplenas

This is an interesting movie which resists the easy temptation to paint Garfield as an avaricious vulture and Jorgenson as the saintly victim. It is even-handed in portraying both the cruelty that adaptation and changing times impose on people, and yet the necessity to do so. (Garfield: "I'm sure that the last buggy whip company in America made the best damn buggy whips in the world.") Jorgenson makes a moving and impassioned speech to the stockholders on the themes of caring and compassion, which completely wins the viewer over; no way do we feel that Garfield can respond, but he does, and very convincingly. One doesn't find this kind of ambiguity and even treatment very often; people like things black & white (e.g. Oliver Stone's "Wall Street"), which is perhaps why this film didn't make it big. I liked it. Danny DeVito is always worth watching, and Peck does a good job too. Unfortunately Penelope Ann Miller is not convincing in sultry mode.

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12 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Excellent!, 3 August 2000
Author: de_niro_2001 from scotland

Everybody does well in this film. Danny De Vito plays the kind of character he normally plays. In fact, Larry the Liquidator is just a super rich Louie De Palma. Gregory Peck is his usual good upright self. The only other film I've seen Piper Laurie in is Carrie so it's something different to see her as a benign grandmotherly type. However, Penelope Ann Miller was the main reason I watched. She's a gorgeous lass and the film would not have been what it was without her. I just love the scene where she goes into Danny De Vito's office and the camera starts at her shoes and goes all the way up to her beautiful face and Danny goes "wow". I agree with Danny that she has a nice laugh.

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14 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Macro Economics with flair, 5 October 1999

Author: Al Rodbell from Carlsbad CA

I bought this used Video and waited months before bothering to see what I had expected to be a hackneyed stereotypical flick. What a delightful surprise. It is easy to produce a film that is pedantic, or to the other extreme, ridiculous- but to combine engaging characters, biting humor and realistic representation of economic forces is a rare feat.

You could study Shumpeter's "Economic theory of Creative Destruction of Obsolete Forms of Production," but you will not get a better illustration of the process than what is presented in this movie. DiVito portrayed the perfect balance of greed, and humanity as the Wall Street mogul. Penelope Ann Miller played the sharp, voluptious antaganist to perfection.

This film is a rare nugget of intelligent entertainment that stands out in the sea of juvenilia.

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15 out of 19 people found the following review useful:
Wonderfully Politically Incorrect, 9 March 2000

Author: Michael Hoffman (mikemoto) from Fort Worth, Texas USA

Believe it or not, this is one of my all time favourite films. The speeches at the proxy fight by Jorgy" and "Larry the Liquidator" are sensational. I have not seen any movie that has done this better including Gordon Gecko's "Greed is Good" in Wall Street. I was applauding after I heard DeVito talking about fiber optics and obsolescence.

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9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
DeVito can't miss, 15 November 2000

Author: Ron-181 (rhall96319@aol.com) from Lake Butler, Florida

Another Danny DeVito triumph. He always gives a strong performance. An excellent cast including Penelope Miller, Gregory Peck and Dean Jones. This film welcomes you to the real world of business take overs and DeVito pulls it off convincingly. Clever dialogue and good pace make for an entertaining film. I rated this an 8.

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12 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
Good things in small packages, 9 July 2001

Author: jlacerra from Philadelphia, PA

Yes, it is somewhat hard to imaging Penelope Ann Miller even considering any type of relationship with Danny DeVito. And yes, they really do not explore the apparent rift between Peck's character and Miller's. These two caveats aside, this is a very enjoyable movie. So all tycoons don't look like Richard Gere. This is a tour de force for DeVito. He gets past his diminutive stature and actually becomes Larry the Liquidator.

I was not saddled with having seen (or even heard of) the play. Theater is irrelevant anyway, except as a training ground for movie actors. I took this picture on its own merits, and frankly, I was skeptical that DeVito could do a corporate raider. But he plays it just right and then has you believing that this dwarf from the Bronx really made good. Dean Jones is convincing as the corporate soldier trying to find a soft place to land. Peck is excellent, as always.

Two thumbs up!

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
Star quality makes this economics lesson entertaining, 24 August 2001
Author: Geofbob from London, England

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Norman Jewison uses Gregory Peck and Danny De Vito, two stars from different eras, with sharply contrasted appearances and personas, to depict somewhat simplistically the clash of two different business philosophies - one based on making useful goods and providing employment, the other solely on making money. De Vito plays ruthless corporate raider, Lawrence Garfield aka "Larry the Liquidator", who struggles with upright old-fashioned Andrew Jorgenson, for control of the latter's wire and cable business, which Garfield wants to close down and sell off piecemeal, throwing its employees on the scrap heap.

But Garfield turns out to be not quite the cartoon villain he initially seems; he has a cultured, romantic side, and soon is engaged in another battle, for the hand and heart of Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller), Jorgenson's formidable and stunningly attractive lawyer. Well acted and well made, the film progresses to an inevitable conclusion, with free market capitalism winning the day, as it almost always does in real life, until in a final contrived twist Garfield is able to do the right thing for the workers, and for himself both financially and romantically. For its part, Hollywood does what it does best - bets on both sides, and comes out on top.

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