My Review of "For Love or Money"

For Love or Money is a romantic comedy that came out in 1993. It's a a quirky movie that resembles the play, Cyrano de Bergerac, with a "modern" twist. Now looking at it, we consider this very old school. There are a lot of dated elements to this modern take of the play. I fortunately lived during this time and do remember some of the old references and the times they lived in.

The movie starts out with Doug. He's a guy that can make anything happen. His gift for gab and his wide knowledge of the city has granted him access to a lot of things. That's really useful in his work as he's a concierge for a prestigious hotel.

Looking back at this movie, I kind of wished service was as hospitable as it is in this movie. Still to provide great service you have to have a team. Doug basically fights for his somewhat inept team of misfits to getting the hotel in order.

Of course, this isn't Doug's ultimate dream. His dream is to build a hotel of his own. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have the funds with his meagre salary at the hotel. That's why he needs a rich partner to provide the venture capital for his future hotel.

That's when he meets up with a man named Christian. This guy is a rich playboy who happens to be courting a young woman named Andy, that Doug is smitten with. Christian happens to be somewhat of a devil. He's playing Andy and using Doug to cover up his tracks.

The hijinks come from Doug having to bend over backwards in order to cover up Christian's many cases of philandering. Doug soon feels like a Charlie Brown character as he's covering up for a man that is sleeping with the woman he loves. All this for the one dream that he can maybe open up that hotel he dreams about.

I like the way that they used some misunderstandings to create chaos. This used to be a big thing back in the day but they don't do it anymore. I guess it could cause some confusion with individuals as you have to keep track of who is confused and what they're confused about. This element of chaos is actually pretty fun in this movie. There's one big part that they did and I thought it was hysterical.

Some may not like the naivety of some of the characters in this movie but I think this was done on purpose. As it's based on the play, I think the characters have to be a bit boneheaded to allow this whole story to work out. There is a bit of comedy behind their airheaded personalities. It also reminds you that it is a play because they're so one dimensional.

This isn't a complicated story and really it is a feel good story. I thought it was pretty well paced. You have to be able to handle some of the stupidity involved with the characters in order to enjoy this movie. For a lot of you out there, this may be a no go because of that. Some of you may be able to handle it and you'll have a good time.

Overall, I had a good time with this movie. It's not the best but they have a lot of clever moments in there. This movie is also somewhat a blast from the past. It reverences some pop culture things that not a lot of people will understand either. I was surprised I was still able to remember some of it. I'll have to give this one a 6.5 out of 10. I think I'd be able to watch this one again.