Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Monty Brewster, an aging minor-league baseball player, stands to inherit $300 million if he can successfully spend $30 million in 30 days without anything to show for it, and without telling anyone what he's up to... A task that's a lot harder than it sounds!
Brewster's Millions is a likable mid-80s comedy carried largely by Richard Pryor's charisma and solid chemistry with John Candy. The premise is inherently fun and generates decent comic momentum, but the film is notably the sixth adaptation of the same source novel and leans heavily on formula — the inheritance-challenge setup is predictable and the comedic situations rarely surprise. Pryor and Candy are genuinely entertaining but neither is given material that stretches them; supporting performances are serviceable. Cinematography is workmanlike studio-era stuff with no visual ambition. The ending resolves neatly but without real surprise or emotional punch. A crowd-pleasing but thoroughly conventional entry in the high-concept comedy genre of its era.