THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511270186
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
AFTER THE often-hilarious teaming of Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes in the surprise hit ``White Men Can't Jump,'' it seemed likely that a reteaming would net a similar hit. ``Money Train,'' however, fails to capitalize on the team's initial appeal - comedy.
Instead, it tries, fitfully, to turn the pair into realistic action heroes. Rather than go for laughs often enough, director Joesph Ruben tries to make something like a mixture of ``Die Hard'' and ``NYPD Blue.''
The result is a dumb-dumb movie that throws in pointless action scenes whenever the going gets slow, intermingled with rather witless one-upmanship routines by the two stars.
Wesley and Woody play ``foster brothers'' who are in the same undercover New York City Transit Cop detail. They operate in the subway systems under the city - posing in disguise in order to trap petty offenders. The ``bro'' jokes are trotted out regularly. (Woody, it seems, was found abandoned in a garbage can by Wesley's family.)
Wesley is the stable, sensible one. He also does well with the girls. Woody is the boyish, fumbling type. They compete for the attentions of Jennifer Lopez, which adds a sexual tone to the usual competitive battle between them.
The audience may well be puzzled about when the movie is going to begin. Both the title and the advance publicity herald it as a ``heist'' film. Not until about the last 30 minutes of the film, after a good deal of pointless dawdling, does the script finally get around the robbery.
The two cop-brothers turn into crooks in an instant. Wesley lends Woody money to pay off his gambling debts. Woody is robbed. The ganglords threaten death, or worse, if they're not paid. The only solution, the guys decide, is to rob the so-called ``money train,'' which collects the change from toll slots along the subway system. The two act as if switching to robbery is no more than a flippant decision. They go from cops to criminals instantly.
The implausibilities pile up. More than $500,000 (in change, mind you) is carried in what looks like a small lunch sack. The train runs away through the subway system and never encounters another train. (Even those of us who don't live in New York City know that there would be more than one train in this vast underground on New Year's Eve).
Robert Blake overacts wildly as a bigoted boss who apparently resents the fact that the two guys get along. He yells and sweats, to no purpose, in each of his several scenes.
Wesley is given the best lines, so it is easy for him to steal the film. On top of that, he gets most of the action scenes, too. Poor Woody is left playing a boyish bumbler - and he's getting a little old for that.
``Money Train,'' if it wanted to become an action film to be taken seriously, should have gone for some semblance of a script. If not, it would have been wise not to have wasted its gifted comedy team. Making them take this film seriously was a mistake. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
COLUMBIA/TRISTAR
From left, John (Wesley Snipes), Charlie (Woody Harrelson) and Grace
(Jennifer Lopez) must pull a shift on the ``money train.'' The movie
fails to exploit the comedic talents of its two male stars.
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Money Train''
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Lopez, Robert
Blake
Director: Joseph Ruben
Screenplay: Doug Richardson and David Loughery
MPAA rating: R (violence, nudity, language)
Mal's rating: One 1/2 stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Circle 4,
Main Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven Mall,
Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach
by CNB