Other People's Money (1991)

Perfect cast and a good story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Just as Network can be watched to gain an education about television politics, and Wall Street can be watched to learn about, well, greed, Other People's Money is just as educational as it is entertaining. And since it's highly entertaining, that's saying a lot! Danny DeVito plays a slimy scumbag who makes business deals and often destroys companies. His next target: Gregory Peck's and Piper Laurie's struggling company. If you don't know what a corporate takeover is, the movie will teach you. As the old-world and new-world views clash, the old-timers pull out a secret weapon: their daughter. Penelope Ann Miller, while clad in some beautiful outfits, sasses and teases Danny DeVito as he tries to ruin her parents, hoping that the sexual tension will cause him to weaken or falter. I don't happen to find her very attractive, but Alvin Sargent's screenplay, based on Jerry Sterner's play, has given her some very good lines! Yes, no one likes to see a corporate goon pick on poor ol' Gregory Peck, but it's actually a really enjoyable movie. And, amazingly enough, besides the heavy subject matter, the movie is a comedy! For some great one-liners, some steamy romantic banter, and an economics lesson, you can't go wrong by watching Other People's Money.

Other People's Money is a wonderful movie, full of smart dialogue, good music, and a terrific Danny De Vito performance. De Vito is his usual funny, and easy-going self, while Gregory Peck is a strong-willed patriarch. Very good stuff there. The weakest performance is from Penelope Ann Miller, who isn't really convincing as the corporate attorney, but the material is so good that it saves the movie. The movie, above all, presents a balanced take on a fascinating issue: is the hostile corporate takeover an evil act? Although one could argue that a sub-textual ideology is present- in fact, in many ways, the script can be considered a yuletide cautionary tale written by Dickens sans the spectral spirits- it can easily be dismissed; there is never a feeling that the viewer is being spoofed one propaganda or another. The soliloquies rendered by Jorgenson and Garfield at the end form the killer application of the piece. They deliver two diverse, diametrically opposed filters on the same subject, and both participants challenge all of us to come up with a sane, informed opinion regarding it.What's refreshing about the movie is the writer didn't set up a straw man to argue either point view. Both sides present intelligent arguments from believable characters. The movie challenges us that what is rational is not always what feels good. An efficient and productive economy is one that has the ability to change, but there are costs - people get displaced. Where the script fell short and where many in our society lose perspective is that while businesses may die out people are flexible. One's skills can be revamped and applied to more productive pursuits. Instead, however, the scriptwriters concoct a not so believable happy ending. Still, though Other People's Money is probably one of the most honest movies to come out of Hollywood on the topic of capitalism.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

It's been a few years since I saw Other People's Money, but I just watched Time Changer last night, and it brought this movie to mind. If you've seen both or read descriptions of both you might think they have nothing in common, but I think they share this: They are probably the two most "serious" movies I have ever seen, in the sense that both seriously present complex philosophical issues.Other People's Money has a plot and a story, of course. But at heart, it is a discussion about a serious social question: How should we as a society deal with changing technology and economic circumstances? The movie sets up two opposing characters: Gregory Peck's character takes the position that society must be compassionate. Just because a business is no longer efficient or is producing an obsolete product doesn't justify putting them out of business and putting all the employees out of work. At one point he makes a moving speech for giving people a chance to adapt and find solutions to get the company back on its feet. Danny DeVito's character says that real compassion is to get everybody out of a losing enterprise and working someplace that is actually productive. In my opinion, both sides are given a fair hearing in the movie. This is one of the few movies that fairly presents both sides of a controversial issue.From a dramatic, story-telling point of view, DeVito's character is great. MINOR SPOILER HERE: When we first see him he comes across as a crude, greedy jerk. But then gradually we see that this is just an act that he puts on. Watch especially for the scene in the Japanese restaurant: it sums up the paradoxes of his character.

"Other People's Money" sort of takes "Wall Street" and puts a comedic spin on it. Danny DeVito - in full pumped-up, crazy form - plays Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield, a corporate raider plotting a hostile takeover of a store that provides the town's livelihood. The plant's owner (Gregory Peck) sends young lawyer Kate Sullivan (Penelope Ann Miller) after Larry, but nothing goes as anyone planned.This seems like the sort of movie that only Norman Jewison could direct, how he takes a real-life issue and shows it in a manner to which we can all relate. The whole part about the relationship between Larry and Kate was maybe a little unnecessary, but it's overall good that the movie shows the Wall Street types for what they really are...even if you grow to admire Larry. Maybe if you grow to admire Larry, it's because Danny DeVito makes him so funny. The movie comes out very well done. Also starring Piper Laurie, Dean Jones and William DeAcutis in his final role.