I remember seeing Yves Simoneau's "Free Money" in the new release section of a video store, despite its never having been in the theaters. I thought it odd that a movie starring Marlon Brando would appear out of nowhere. It turns out that the movie got released in Singapore in 1998 (see the header about the movie on IMDb). As for the movie itself, it makes no pretense about being silly, with Brando as a sadistic warden whose daughters feign pregnancy to force their loser boyfriends into shotgun weddings. While Brando's role reminded me of his performance as Vito Corleone, it still didn't seem like the sort of role in which I would expect to see him. The rest of the cast is OK in their roles, but the plot is so routine that the movie isn't as entertaining as it could be. Worth seeing once.

Free Money (1998) ** 1/2 (out of 4) This Coen Brothers rip-off features Marlon Brando playing a sadistic warden who is told by his twin teenage daughters that they're pregnant. The father then makes the two dimwits (Charlie Sheen, Thomas Haden Church) marry his daughters but then they all get mixed up in a train robbery. FREE MONEY cost a total of $30 million to make and features the likes of Brando, Sheen, Church, Donald Sutherland, Mira Sorvino, David Arqiette and Martin Sheen yet it wasn't even able to find a theatrical release in America. This is a pretty bizarre movie from the start and it really makes you wonder what was going on during the production because nothing in the story ever makes too much sense. I'm not sure if it's true but I've heard that Brando pretty much was running the show and actually got this project off the ground, babied it and got it made. Apparently he was calling a lot of the shots so perhaps this is why it doesn't make too much sense. It's really hard to understand what the film is going for because it starts off as a silly comedy and then we get one backstory after another thrown onto it and before long you feel as if you're watching some sort of social drama. Sorvino plays a FBI agent who shows up because escaped prisoners keep turning up shot in the back of the head and then there's a side story dealing with her father (Sutherland) being the judge who is helping Brando with the murders. This entire point of the plot is brought up but never cleared up. The entire bit with the train robbery doesn't ever go anywhere and this part of the story takes you down one road and just drops you off without answering anything. The entire movie is just so weird that I couldn't help but find some mild entertainment out of it because it's clear the cast were at least giving it their all. This includes Brando who I really enjoyed and especially early on when he was playing the nutty father-in-law who would stop at nothing to ruin the men who took his daughter's flowers. Both Sheen and Church seem to be having fun playing dumb. When Martin shows up at the end it's a nice little trick but it's obvious he and Brando aren't filming at the same time so it somewhat takes away from the reunion. FREE MONEY is a hard film to recommend because most people will probably hate it or just be so confused by it that they turn it off. Fans of the cast or just weird movies might get some mild entertainment from it.

I watched Free Money last night & it was the longest 90+ minutes of my life. With such an intriguing cast, I really thought that I was in for a treat - especially since I'm a Brando fan. WRONG! What a waste of talent. It's almost embarrassing to watch at times (like the cattle prod scene), & there were so many missed opportunities for humorous setups (why didn't they show Charlie Sheen's character going back to tow Brando's truck?) Ugh. It tries to be a slapstick comedy, but I just wasn't buying into it. Skip this one. Only for die-hard Brando fans.I'm giving it 2 out of 10 because I still think the worse movie ever made was Skidoo.

"Free Money" is a middle of the road "comedy" with next to no laughs. This Charles outing is decent but this is a pretty low-key performance. Marlon Brando stands out as the big fat warden who is of father of two twin daughters that Charles and Thomas Haden Churches' character want to date. Brando brandishes a whip for no reason. He actually tortures Sheen and Church for minutes on end. It is kinda weird. There's also a subplot with Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland that forgets to develop and it hurts the film a little. I'm still trying to figure out why Charlie want to change his name. Every movie with "Charles" has been pretty bad.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com