Critique: Film> Reviews.

(This review contains spoilers. Consider yourself warned.)

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, the hilarious duo of White Men Can't Jump, reunite for the action-comedy Money Train. Unsurprisingly, their obvious on-screen chemistry rouses the biggest laughs here, but Doug Richardson and David Loughrey's badly written script and the uneven pacing of the direction overshadows the picture's funniest moments, making this a rather forgettable affair in a long list of movies of the same genre.

Money Train just tries to do too many things. On one hand, it feels like a romantic-comedy as it explores the relationship between the adopted brothers John (Snipes) and Charlie (Harrelson) and their squabbles over beautiful fellow cop, Grace Santiago (Jennifer Lopez). Then there's this subplot involving Charlie and his gambling habits and the money he owes to nightclub owner Donald Patterson (Robert Blake); and another involving a madman that likes to visit the subway and set alight females in the ticket booth just for the fun of it.

Whilst this allows Snipes and Harrelson to play off one another, the actual point of the whole movie -- robbing the money train -- seems neglected to the bottom of the pile. Occasionally, Harrelson tempts us with the odd comment about going through with his plan, but not until about an hour-and-ten-mins in do we actually see it come into play. Even then, the whole "master-plan" seems incredibly easy to pull off (had it not been for a couple of cops loitering around the point of escape Charlie would've gotten away with the money within a matter of minutes).

I won't deny that I laughed quite a few times at the jokes in the film, and I did enjoy some of the well-choreographed action scenes -- there's a great one where Snipes goes on an arse-kicking spree in a nightclub to defend his "brother" -- but these moments weren't good enough to overcome my frustration of sitting through an incredibly disjointed storyline. My point being: There's no point having action if the suspense is in short supply.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.