Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
SnoopyStyle
Sven "The Swede" Sorenson (Marlon Brando) is a feared prison warden. His only weaknesses are his two twin daughters Liv and Inga. The girls lie to him about being pregnant forcing their boyfriends Bud Dyerson (Charlie Sheen) and Larry (Thomas Haden Church) into shotgun weddings. The Swede murders an escaped prisoner. FBI agent Karen Polarski (Mira Sorvino), the daughter of corrupt Judge Rolf Rausenberger (Donald Sutherland), investigates and finds a pattern of killings. The boys decide to escape the tyranny of The Swede by robbing a train carrying disused bills to be burned by the Treasury.There is an ugliness to this film. Brando is cartoonishly ugly. The girls are poor actors in their one and only credit. They probably got the job because they're twins and they're pretty enough. The boys have their own ugliness in that they're dumb but not in a funny way. None of this is funny. The most notable aspect is that this is Brando second to last film. It's better to remember The Score as his last. At least, that one is pretty good and he gets to leave on a high note. This one is a dark comedy that isn't any fun.
merklekranz
Everyone in this movie, Marlon Brando, Donald Sutherland, Charles Sheen, Thomas Hayden Church, Mira Sorvino, seem to simply be going through the motions, yet occasionally, bright moments of very dark comedy arise from the murky script. Speaking of the script, it just never gives the feeling of being fully developed, the actors appear to be simply freewheeling as they go along. Nevertheless, the film is watchable, and there is a chance that repeat viewings may actually improve the experience. A curiosity at best for Brando's over the top performance, a bad film at worst for the uneven script, "Free Money" might have just enough weirdness to survive. - MERK
nancysemblance
Watching Marlen Brando on screen is like watching a master carpenter chiseling intricate details into a piece of mahogany. Brando's acting is the ONLY thing that makes this movie watchable. The plot is inane and laughable (not comic). The other big name actors seem to be making desperate attempts to give the characters they portray some modicum of humanity... these characters have the humanity of wet cardboard. Everything about the technical side of this film is either mediocre or just plain awful. The director throws freeze-frame and slow-motion shots about with impunity. The incidental music is cartoonish and destroys any hint of dramatic effect. It's not something I really look for in a movie, but even the wardrobe was way off. The venerable Brando couldn't take focus away from the awful rags they had him decked out in. I've heard this movie called "David Lynch-esquire" and "irreverently funny"... it is neither. David Lynch films are borne of wicked creativity - this film was in no way creative. And don't confuse irreverence with stupidity.
OttoJederman
Any film with Marlon Brando is worth watching and I was not disappointed by this one. It is as though a bunch of big name stars got together and decided to make a screwball sicko black comedy. The film is erratic but overall they succeeded.Marlon Brando is superb as The Swede, a vicious and sadistic prison warden and a true `River of Fire' on earth. He clearly enjoyed this role. Charlie Sheen is funny but badly miscast loser due to his lack of accent (more on that later). Thomas Church is wonderful as Larry, a dim bulb but big-hearted co-accomplice with Bud. Donald Sutherland is very disappointing as Judge Rausenberg, as is Mira Sorvino as his daughter the FBI agent. The scheming, teenage twins were funny and wonderful.As with many screwball comedies, the plot jumped around frenetically and was difficult to follow. Still, I found it cohesive if lacking in continuity. The strongest points were the scenes with the Swede, the twins, and Larry and Bud while the weakest point was probably the laughably easy train robbery. Also, I found the pit bull like violence in the prison unrealistic and difficult to deal with.Having lived in Minnesota, I was disappointed by some of the details of the movie. First, Marlon moved his hands a lot when he talked while any Minnesotan knows that a true Swede talks with his hands still --- very still indeed --- at his sides. Yah sure, yabecha! Also, the accents were very erratic. Larry had a true northern Minnesota accent while Charlie Sheen had no accent at all --- he was miscast. Marlon and Donald did fairly well but the twins sounded like Valley girls pretending to be Minnesotans --- their enthusiasm for their roles made this cute rather than annoying.
The film was so erratic and had such poor continuity that I can't give it more than a six but it still was worth seeing at least once. I recommend it to anyone with an open mind who can deal with the violence and the sexual content. This film definitely is not for children.