MILK MONEY
A film review by Jeffrey Graebner
Copyright 1994 Jeffrey Graebner
MILK MONEY is a smart, funny comedy that presents a very knowing look at early adolescence while also showing a believable and charming romance between two unlikely adults. The film is only slightly undermined by a somewhat inappropriate climax.
As the film begins, we meet three pre-teen boys who are just starting to become facinated and curious about the opposite sex. They decide to pool their money and go to nearby New York City because they had heard there were girls there who would take their clothes off for money. There they meet a kindly prostitute played by Melanie Griffith. When her car breaks down after driving the boys home, one of them begins working to bring her together with his lonely, widowed father. The premise is difficult to describe in print without making the film sound kind of lurid, but it is actually handled with a great deal of sensitivity. It is also surprisingly believable.
The greatest strength of John Mattson's screenplay is the very convincingly drawn characters. The very first scene of the film features the three boys up in a treehouse trying to outdo each other with gross comments. The scene generates a lot of laughs from the audience, but these boys also sound like >real< little boys. Mattson has a very good ear for the ways that kids that age really talk. The conversation inevitably switches to an innocent discussion of the opposite sex and this is also handled in a very real, believable manner. This believability is maintained throughout the film including scenes involving other kids as well. One scene that particularly stands out shows a group of young girls observing and commenting on Griffith's character. It was a very wise move to include this scene (as well as a couple others) that show an adolescent female point of view. This is one of the best American film portrayals of this age group in recent memory.
Griffith's character is also very well written. She is written as a good person who has simply ended up in an undesirable lifestyle. The film does not glamourize prostitution in any way. Instead, quite a bit of time is spent on the dehumanizing aspect of it and on Griffith's strong wish to get her humanity back. This film will likely generate some comparisons with PRETTY WOMAN, and I think its biggest advantage over that film is the fact that Griffith's character is not rescued by a client (I suppose you could argue that the kids were "clients", but not in the same way as the Richard Gere character in PRETTY WOMAN). In this film, the character is rightfully shown as needing to get >away< from prostitution in order to better her life.
After giving some teriffic performances early in her career, Griffith's last several films have been very disappointing. This is the best role that she has had since WORKING GIRL and she is absolutely teriffic in it. This character is smart and streetwise, but also has a certain sadness and even a hint of innocence. The character goes through a number of emotional transformations during this film and Griffith plays them all convincingly. It pleases me immensely to see her in such a good role once again.
Ed Harris may seem like an odd choice to play a romantic lead opposite Griffith, but they have a surprising amount of chemistry. Harris' character shows a great deal of love and caring towards his son, but also a certain sadness as he has never quite stopped mourning his wife (who died in childbirth). The warm, tentative romance between Harris and Griffith is very well played and effective. Harris has always had a talent for playing characters who seem gruff on the outside, but with a great deal of warmth between the surface. This talent is definitely on display in this character.
The young actor who plays Harris' son is also very good (unfortunately, I didn't catch his name and it isn't listed in the advertisements for the film). Many of the film's best scenes involve the slow development of the relationship between Griffith and the boy. In fact, the film really could have used more scenes between them. The son's relationship with the other kids is also very well played. He is allowed to take some very tentative first steps towards romance with some of the other kids his age and this is very realistically played. The kid had quite a few scenes that brought back childhood memories.
Unfortunately, Mattson included an unnecessary subplot involving a mobster (played by Malcolm McDowell, in a seriously over-the-top performance) trying to find Griffith under the belief that she has stolen some money from her pimp. Luckily, this subplot is kept in the background during most of the film, but it does come to the foreground during the film's climax. The result is a climactic sequence where the romance and characters are largely replaced by unnecessary action sequences (the film >really< didn't need a car chase). The movie does get back on track towards the very end, though, and this subplot certainly isn't enough to diminish the film's strengths.
Richard Benjamin has had a spotty career as a director with films ranging from dreadful (MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN) to pretty good (MERMAIDS). This is probably his best directing job, showing good comic timing and bringing out some strong performances. The film is also the first project from the new production company founded by former Spielberg partners Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and it shows that they may have been major contributors to the general high quality of productions that have come out of Amblin Entertainment over the years.
While MILK MONEY isn't a perfect film, it is very funny and entertaining with a surprisingly smart script and some teriffic performances. It is very much worth seeing.
-- Jeffrey P. Graebner Columbus, Ohio
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews