Strike It Rich

Thoroughly predictable plot. Poor acting and a real snoozer. Characters never fully developed and I kept thinking, yah right! There was nothing about Molly that made her redeeming. For all the money her husband won, one had to stop and think, is she really worth it - certainly not her acting.

Robert Lindsay tapped lightly through this story of a man who finds love when he least expects to and then almost loses it when he fails to value love as he should. Molly Ringwald was charming as the young woman he loves. John Gielgud, as the cunning Grand Old Man, makes promises he too easily forgets and sets up the plot for the mayhem to follow. I thought this film had the feel of an Ealing Studios comedy from the 1950's. I only regret that there weren't more hazards to befall Robert Lindsay, who can meltdown on screen funnier than almost anyone else.

Molly Ringwald stars as Carrie, a transplanted American living in London. One day at the bus stop, an accountant for a large company goes absolutely gaga for her. He pursues, he wins her heart. By happenstance, the owner of the company where the accountant works offers the couple a wedding and honeymoon in the south of France. All goes very well until the husband gets attached to the casinos and leaves Carrie to fend for herself. Will the honeymoon end up destroying the marriage? The execution of this slight story is just adequate, resulting in a movie that is pleasant but hardly noteworthy. Molly Ringwald, however, has never appeared more beautiful or charming and her costumes are first-rate. Robert Lindsay gives an engaging performance as the accountant. On a night when the television schedule is disappointing, this film can provide an evening's diversion.

My review was written in January 1990 after watching the movie at a theater in Manhattan's Kips Bay neighborhood.

"Strike It Rich: is a poorly directed piece of ight (i.e., low caloric) entertainment. Miramax didn't press-screen this pic and even removed its name after trumpeting its production two years ago, releasing it via Millimeter Films, its B-level film subsidiary.

Film is the second mid-Atlantic venture by the Gotham indie and has in common with previous film "ScandaL" a nostalgic bent towards England (here the '50s) plus the original casting of Emily Lloyd in both pics. British thesp elected to play American in two U. S. films instead: "Cookie" and "In Country", while her British roles were ironically filled for Miramax by Yank actresses, Bridget Fonda and here, Molly Ringwald.

Helmer James Scott closely follows the letter of Graham Greene's 1955 novella "Loser Takes All". He adds an opening reel (shot partly in black & white) that fleshes out the romance of accountant Robert Lindsay and half-his-age Ringwald, portraying a British lass raised in America after being evacuated during the Blitz (accounting for her all-American accent).

Unfortunately, the Greene material is merely a trifle that would have needed the talents and charm of say, Stanley Donen, Kenneth More and Audrey Hepburn in the '50s to constitute a viable theatrical feature. As executed here, it's hopelessly old-fashioned, remote and even fusty.

Plot line has the lovers spending their honeymoon in Monte Carlo on the whim of Lindsay's boss (John Gielgud). Predictably, Lindsay contracts gambling fever and uses his mathematical abilities to perfect a winning system for roulette. Angry at being stranded there by the forgetful Gielgud, he plots to use his casino winnings to buy the swing shares in Gielgud's business and drive the grand old man out, but relents cornily in the final reel to spend time with the neglected Ringwald.

Greene's themes are laid on with a trowel here and a promising subplot of superstition (heralded by cute, old-fashioned credits featuring a black cat in split-screen) is poorly developed. Scott, who has been making shorts, documentaries and feature-length material for over 25 years, doesn't seem suited to handling mainstream films. He never shows Lindsay winning at roulette, denying the viewer the genre's vicarious pleasure (Lindsay might as well be robbing banks and just pretending to have a winning system for Ringwald's benefit). Final reels are filled with clumsy crosscutting that kills off any residual attachment to the characters.

There's no chemistry between the stars. Ringwald's frequently flat line readings are a drag. With her recent string of flop vehicles, she's failed to get an adult role of substance following her breakthrough five years ago as a teen fave. With this dull outing and megaflop "Bert Rigby, You're a Fool", Lindsay's screen career remains stillborn. Gielgud's role is just a brief walkthrough.

Coming off best here are two leading French thesps making their English-language debuts, Simon de la Brosse as Ringwald's younger love interest is appealing: he co-starred in Mirfamax' French import "The Little Thief" an is a Gallic dead ringe for former RIngwald co-star Judd Nelson. Michel Blanc is very effective in his underplaying as the very understanding hotel manager.

Molly Ringwald is such a modern, grounded presence on the screen that she's an awfully odd fit for a romantic comedy set in the '50s. Paired up curiously with a much-older man (the somewhat square Robert Lindsay), Molly finds herself in Monte Carlo without her rich benefactor (an amiable John Gielgud), and soon the couple is without funds. The picture begins well, and utilizes its cramped budget to good effect, but it's my guess that the later scenes were filmed first because by the last reel, Ringwald and Lindsay suddenly seem very uncomfortable together. This is a slight romantic comedy which may play better on TV than it did in the theater; the production looks great and there are some laughs early on. How does the grown-up Molly Ringwald fare? She still has that special spark, but without many witty lines--à la the pen of John Hughes--she's just a bit unsure of herself, though still pretty (in black, this time). ** from ****