New York. Monty Brewster’s luck takes on an unexpected turn towards better when the washed-up baseball player gets bailed out from prison and escorted to a building where he is informed that his late great-uncle Rupert will leave him an inheritance of 300 million $. The catch: he has to spend 30 million $, under the condition that he buys stuff but has no assets, in 30 days, or he will not get the inheritance. Since a clause forbids Brewster from telling anyone about this secret deal, his friend Spike is puzzled and shocked that Brewster would now rent the most expensive hotel room and squander all the money on bizarre investments and parties. His accountant, Angela, is also concerned. Finally, Brewster spends all the money, but an employee was bribed to sabotage the inheritance, so he gives Brewster some money from fictional funds, yet Angela manages to dismantle the conspiracy, allowing for Brewster to inherit the 300 million $.
You would not know Richard Pryor and John Candy were great comedians based just on their film “Brewster’s Millions”, since their talent doesn’t come across here due to the placid script which seems to be doing more to inhibit them than to simply showcase their potentials. Screenwriters Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod tried to pull off a similar variation of their previous hit, "Trading Places", but, sadly, this film is simply not that funny. All the jokes seem as if they were improvised on the spot, without much thought or better planning what to do with the juicy concept in which the title hero has to spend a fortune to inherit an even bigger fortune. Pryor wasn't given any memorable lines or dialogue, while his love interest, Angela, is a disappointingly one-dimensional and bland character. Candy wasn't given much to do, either. At first, the story follows Brewster's attempts as they backfire (he spends an insane amount of money on sure misfires, like on a loser's race and investing in a business that aims to bring icebergs from the North Pole via the ocean to farmers, yet they unexpectedly become a success that yield him even more money he now has to spend), yet the rest is just routine and overstretched "improvising". There is only one good joke here (Brewster buys a rare postal stamp for 1.25 million $ and mails it on a letter to the office of his supervisors), and the rest is just a series of half-baked, underdeveloped or forced attempts at jokes. "Brewster's Millions" has no inspiration. As much as Brewster squanders his money in the movie, the movie squanders its potentials in front of the viewers.
Grade:+
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