For Love or Money (2019)

Movie Name/Year: For Love or Money (2019)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Length: 95 minutes

Rating: Unrated

Production/Distribution: Solar Productions, Goldfinch Studios, Amazon Prime Video, Eagle Films, Golden A Entertainment, Gravitas Ventures, Myriad Pictures, Romis Film

Director: Mark Murphy

Writers: Mark Murphy, Sabrina Lepage

Actors: Robert Kazinsky, Samantha Barks, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Ed Speleers, Tony Way, Ivan Kaye, Anna Chancellor, Tanya Reynolds

Blurb from IMDb: A fairy tale romance takes an unexpected turn when Mark discovers his beautiful bride-to-be, Connie, has actually been plotting against him.

Cat’s Point of View:

When this movie came up on our list for review, I thought that the name sounded familiar. It took me a bit to piece together that I was thinking of another film with the same name from the nineties. Alas, this is not the 1993 Michael J. Fox (The Good Wife, A.R.C.H.I.E., See You Yesterday) movie. Instead, this story takes a different perspective on a similar theme, and adds a gender flip for good measure with this updated version.

If you decide that you want to watch the trailer for this one before choosing whether or not to watch, just make sure you don’t view the extended version. The ‘extended’ scenes included with that trailer give away most of the best gags in the movie.

If I had watched a preview for this film, I might have felt slightly less cringe through the duration – maybe. Knowing the gist of what to expect only prepares one so far, really. There have been a couple times in my life where I have been lead on by someone without good intentions. That’s all ancient history, but when that’s happened to you a part of you never forgets and still twinges in sympathy for others in that boat even if you’ve long since moved on. Some of the revenge shenanigans were amusing, but most of them just had me feeling bad for the antagonist.

The film was sprinkled with some surprising comedy elements that I chalk up to quirky British humor. Needless to say, I was in stitches in those random moments between the sobering cringe-worthy bits.

I like the fact that this unabashedly proclaims that it is an ‘unromantic comedy’ right there on the poster. That definitely sets it up well. While there are the occasional romantic-ish elements, it’s mostly colored by the revenge scheme.

I quite enjoyed the performances by the cast as a whole. I couldn’t point out any single role as lacking. The soundtrack was also interesting, with some recognizable pop songs added for good measure. I almost got my phone out for a music identification app. Almost.

If you asked me to boil down my opinion on the movie to whether or not I liked it, I’d have to say I did. I was entertained just as much as I cringed. There were a few moments that I saw going in one direction that ended up differently than expected, as well. I don’t know that I’d intentionally steer anyone towards this film, but I wouldn’t tell them to avoid it. 

  

Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 78%

Metascore – None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.7/10

CinemaScore – None

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

P.S. There are small scenes during the credits that are either out-takes or deleted scenes.

Movie Trailer: