Twenty Bucks (1993)

“Quit while you’re ahead.” – Jimmy

Number of Times Seen – at least 5 times (cable and video in the 90’s and 17 Jul 2017)

Brief Synopsis – Story that follows the lives of people who handle a particular twenty dollar bill as it moves from hand to hand.

My Take on it – I love the concept of this film because it actually tries to give us a perspective of an inanimate object as the focus of it all.

We get the unique perspective on how many hands a simple 20 dollar bill moves through over the course of a short time.

It all comes across as being quite realistic and it’s easy for just about anyone to relate to everything that happens.

This film is basically a collection of a bunch of short vignettes in peoples lives based solely on what happens to them when they are in possession of the focal object.

The stories deviate a little bit now and again in order to give us a full picture of what happens to some of the characters and that helps give us a nice amount of closure for most of them.

They interweave the stories quite well eventhough none of the characters are aware of their connections to one another based solely on a random object.

The cast is superb and is filled with so many recognizable actors; Brenden Fraser, Linda Hunt, Elizabeth Shue, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, William H. Macy, Spalding Gray, Gladys Knight and David Schwimmer all have great small parts here.

The script is superbly written and it’s a shame that we don’t get more innovative and unique ideas put on screen like this one because it shows things from a rare perspective that works quite well.

Bottom Line – Amazing concept that works so well because we can all easily relate to it. Cast is superb. Loved the way some of the stories interact and cross paths without any of them realizing that there is a connection.  They still find a way to give almost all of the stories proper closure.  Great script that is so original and is able to give us such a unique perspective on the way things work in the world. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The script was originally written in 1935 by Endre Bohem, but sat on the shelf until 1990, when his son Leslie Bohem found it upon his father’s death. He fell in love with the script and, after updating it for the 90’s, sought to have it finally filmed. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy

_______________________________________

Check out my *updated* movie stats here

To see my reviews of Oscar Winning Performances check out this link

To see my reviews of all Oscar Best Picture Winners click here (now complete)

Here is a link to my movie index A-Z