Brewster's Millions

Montgomery Brewster, a minor league pitcher, learns that a great-uncle he never met has died and left a strange will: if he can spend thirty million dollars in thirty days he inherits three hundred million. The rules are severe. He must own nothing at the end and he cannot tell anyone why he is doing it. Walter Hill directed, a straight comedy from a filmmaker known for action. Richard Pryor plays Brewster and John Candy plays his friend Spike, with Lonette McKee, Stephen Collins and Hume Cronyn in the cast. On a 15 million dollar budget it took 45.8 million worldwide, 40.8 million of that domestically. The reviews were poor. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 38 percent and Metacritic at 37. Variety wrote that it is hard to believe a comedy starring Richard Pryor and John Candy is no funnier than this. Janet Maslin in the New York Times called it a screwball comedy minus the screws and said it does nothing to accommodate Pryor's singular comic talents. Hill later called it an aberration in his career line, while allowing that it did well and made money. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties comedies built on a single premise and want Pryor and Candy in the same frame. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the film those two deserved. The potential on paper never reaches the screen.