15/50x2: Brewster's Millions

It's funny that I really enjoyed John Candy as an actor, but I realized I hadn't seen quite a few of his films.

Candy is the sidekick, Spike Nolan, in Brewster's Millions to Monty Brewster (Richard Pryor). Brewster is a pitcher for the minor league team the Hackensack Bulls.

After a game the two get into a bar fight and are dropped from the team, and forced to stay in jail because they can't afford to post bail.

A man comes to the prison, bails the pair out and takes them to New York City. There, Brewster is notified that a relative of his had passed and has left him (his only living relative) his entire fortune - but of course there is a catch.

Brewster can either take $1 million up front or spend $30 million in 30 days and get the entire $300 million fortune. There are also a bunch of rules that he must follow, but the main one is that at the end of the 30 days he can have nothing of value, no assets that he didn't have prior.

If Brewster fails in any of the above then the law firm receives all of the funds that was left for Brewster.

So, for the remainder of the film Brewster goes nuts in his spending spree and he is not allowed to tell anyone about the $300 million only that he has inherited the $30 million.

Of course, the law firm is hoping for Brewster to fail and has inserted a junior lawyer, Warren (Stephen Collins), to do all he can to have Brewster just that. Angela Drake (Lonette McKee), a paralegal from the firm, must stay with Brewster and to keep track of his spending. She is also the fiance of Warren, but did not know about Warren's plans.

I really enjoyed the idea of this movie. And I am sure if I saw it in the 80s it would have been amazing, but it felt really aged.

It sort of reminded me a bit of Mr. Deeds with the fact that a relative that he had never met left him a large sum of money. Of course, Deeds didn't need to spend all of the money to make more, but it does sort of had that same vibe.

Again, I think it could have been better - and if it were re-made today it may be pretty decent.

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HOT: Volunteers

This was a pretty important film for Tom Hanks, not particularly on the film standpoint, but the fact that he co-starred with his eventual wife, Rita Wilson.

Anyway, the second film in a row where Hanks teams up with John Candy.

In Volunteers Hanks stars as Lawrence Whatley Bourne III, who is just graduating college and has rung up a pretty substantial gambling debt. After trying desperately to get his father to pay off his debt, Bourne bribes his college roommate into switching places and letting him join the Peace Corps.

Bourne, after his father pulls strings to keep him there - despite his pleads to leave, is paired with Tom Tuttle (Candy) and Beth Wexler (Wilson) to help build a bridge in Southeast Asia.

Wexler, after the finding the truth about Bourne, cannot stand him - and how easy he has connected with the natives. But after some coaxing and a little help from At Toon (Gedde Watanabe), an English speaking native, he manages to get her to fall for him.

Tuttle, meanwhile, gets lost in the woods and is brainwashed by a local Communist force to finish the bridge. Bourne also makes a deal with a local Opium drug lord to finish the bridge to make it easier for them to transport their drugs.

Once they realize that the locals just may be better off without this bridge it might be too late.

Again, I watched this film a lot when I was younger so it has some sentimental value - and after re-watching it I still enjoyed it, but not as much as I probably did before.

For one, I was not a huge fan of the snobby Hanks' accent, but I got past it. Also, three major villains and not one of them was that villainous.

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HOT: Splash

Here we have the first teaming of what will eventually become many between Tom Hanks the actor and Ron Howard the director.

I remember really enjoying this film when I was younger, probably the first film where I started to like Tom Hanks.

Anyway, Splash stars Hanks as Allen Bauer. We first meet Allen on a ferry boat as a young child. He sees something in the water and decides to jump in despite not knowing how to swim. It is here that he meets a young Madison, who keeps him safe until he is saved.

Cut to years later and Allen is in charge of his family's produce business, along with his older brother, Freddie (John Candy). Freddie, however, is more into living than working, so most if not all of the business decisions are thrust upon Allen - add that to fact that his girlfriend has just left him and Allen is about to have a minor breakdown.

With that he decides to take an unplanned trip to Cape Cod, where he first met Madison (even though he thinks she might have been a figment of his imagination).

Allen rents a boat to take him across and we learn that he still has not learned how to swim. Of course, he falls out of the boat and gets hit in the head by the boat. Madison (Daryl Hannah) rescues him yet again.

During her rescue, Allen drops his wallet and Madison gets it off the ocean floor - oh, and Madison just so happens to be a mermaid.

She uses his licence to get his address and tracks him down. Despite not knowing how to speak, Allen takes her in and immediately begins to fall in love with her. She does learn English, however, by watching television and the love affair between Allen and Madison begin. She is, however, keeping this one major secret from him.

Meanwhile, Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy) is trying to track down Madison to prove that mermaids exist. He saw her on an ocean excursion, but dropped his camera before he could get a picture - now it is his one goal to show he is not crazy and expose Madison for the mermaid she is.

Will Kornbluth expose her? Will this be a deal breaker for Allen? Will Madison be able to last outside of the ocean for so long?

I have to admit, Splash was a pleasant surprise - I hadn't seen it in a long time, but I still enjoyed it. Maybe not as much as I enjoyed it when I was younger, but honestly it still held up for me.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Hanks and Hannah - plus the trio of Hanks, Candy and Levy were great together.

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