Funny Money (2006)

Funny Money is the kind of old-fashioned farce that reminds you how satisfying pure comic mechanics can be: one innocent mistake, one loaded briefcase, and suddenly every doorway, phone call, and half-baked plan becomes a spring-loaded gag. Chevy Chase plays Henry with that perfect, frantic decency—watching a mild-mannered man try to “act normal” while the world closes in is the movie’s steady engine—and Leslie Greif stages the escalating chaos with crisp, easy-to-follow precision that keeps the laughs coming instead of turning into noise. The vibe is light-on-its-feet crime comedy: crooked cops, twitchy gangsters, and misunderstandings piling up like dominoes, all delivered with energetic timing rather than heavy cynicism. It’s not for everyone if you’re allergic to broad, R-rated sex jokes or prefer your crime stories grounded, but if you’re in the mood for a brisk, serviceable caper that knows exactly where to put the next punchline, it’s an enjoyable ride.

Funny Money wants to be a breezy, escalating farce about an ordinary guy who stumbles into a suitcase of cash and watches his life implode as cops, crooks, and friends pile on. The problem is the movie often feels like a stage play that forgot to reinvent itself for the camera, so the pacing lags and the “one more misunderstanding” beats start to feel repetitive instead of sharper and funnier. Chevy Chase has a few flashes of his old timing and Armand Assante brings some welcome menace, but the comedy lands inconsistently and the crime elements aren’t tense enough to compensate. If you love broad, slightly raunchy, mid-2000s farce and don’t need big laughs per minute, you might coast along; if you’re expecting peak Chase or a tightly written caper, this will probably test your patience.