For Love or Money (1993)

(In French, On Cable TV, November 2022) By the early 1990s, Michael J. Fox was at the cruising speed of his career—privately aware of his Parkinson’s but able to carry on without it affecting his performances. It’s at that time that he took on a few unchallenging but lucrative roles playing heavily on his persona, and this is where For Love or Money comes in. There’s nothing strictly wrong with the film, but as it unspools the story of an ambitious ultra-competent hotel manager whose romantic and business plans are dashed by circumstances and an intimidating rival, there is nothing in the film that you won’t have already seen somewhere else. Fox and his co-star Gabrielle Anwar are quite engaging as the leads—Fox still channels his youthful charm and tempers with the confidence of a fixer who initially knows everything (anticipating his turn in Spin City), until the obstacles pile up and the facets of his character run against each other. The complications are predictable, and so are the ways in which they resolve themselves—all that’s left to contemplate is the execution. Here, director Barry Sonnenfeld (in his second film) does fine by most standards but underwhelms compared to the rest of his visually inventive filmography: If nothing else, For Love of Money feels comfortable: you’ll know where it is at any given moment, so you can skip over to the bathroom without missing much by the time you come back. Fox gives it his best, and the direction is competent. Shame that the film doesn’t really have anything new or unusual to offer.