Greedy (1994) starring Michael J. Fox, Kirk Douglas, Nancy Travis, Olivia d'Abo directed by Jonathan Lynn Movie Review

Greedy (1994)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Kirk Douglas in Greedy (1994)

Hungry Like a Fox

Uncle Joe (Kirk Douglas) is getting on in years and his nieces and nephews all have an eye on his vast wealth, with each trying to suck up to him whilst putting the others down. But then Joe introduces them to Molly [Olivia D'Abo], a young English woman who has moved in with him and who he is lavishing money on. Fearing that Joe will squander their inheritance away they track down Danny (Michael J. Fox), who has become estranged from Uncle Joe ever since Joe and his father had a huge falling out, in the hope he can prevent Joe from giving his money to Molly. But not only is Danny cunning when it comes to trying to get the money Molly is ready to break her rules to get her hands on his money as well. The question is will Joe be deceived by his relatives?

"Greedy" is a movie which you can split into a two segment pie chart with the initial 80% all about the deviousness and infighting of those wanting to get their hands on Uncle Joe's money. We get to see the comedy of nephew Carl naming each of his children Joe to try and gain favour whilst another nephew has hired a detective in order to get the dirt on one of his relatives to paint them in a bad light. It is a lot of fun but in truth nothing special nor is the introduction of the sexy and cute Molly. During this we also get the comedy of Michael J. Fox, his naked butt and a tattoo but again it is kind of an old joke.

Michael J. Fox in Greedy (1994)

As for the other 20% well that would give the movie away as there are some twists but in truth the final 20% is as predictable and cliche as the first 80% although it does change track. Don't get me wrong as "Greedy" is still entertaining and delivers the sort of ending which this movie deserved and what audiences expected but it does mean that from start to finish "Greedy" is obvious.

But watching "Greedy" 20 years after it was made it is still enjoyable with a weird touch of sadness as this was Kirk Douglas' last picture before he suffered the stroke which forced him to take a step back and only making rare TV and movie appearances after. But watching Douglas and Fox together is a lot of fun and they have nice chemistry whilst the rest of the cast have fun with their catty, cheating characters.

What this all boils down to is that "Greedy" is entertaining and still worth a watch some 20 years after it was made. But everything about it from the duplicitous characters to the comedy to the charm it is all stereotypical and pretty obvious.


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