This film is currently unavailable
Brewster's Millions
Richard Pryor plays the everyman who inherits a vast estate with a massive catch: he’ll have to spend $30million in 30 days in order to inherit it all.
Director: Walter Hill
Overview
The fondly remembered 1980s comedy (in fact the seventh adaptation of its source novel) employs an ingenious conceit to inspired effect. A minor-league baseball (Richard Pryor) player discovers he’s the beneficiary of an enormous estate, but there’s a catch: he has to spend $30million in 30 days if he wants to receive the full bequeathal of $300million.
While unmistakably a star vehicle for Pryor’s rich comic talents (with supporting hilarity provided by John Candy), Walter Hill’s film is also interesting today as an almost archetypal 1980s document, steeped in the decade’s iconography and ideologies. In (arguably dubiously) mining laughs from the idea of a black character’s unexpected richness it shares a theme with another successful social-engineering comedy, Trading Places, from a few year’s prior, while the film’s prurient obsession with money and excess is unadulterated 1980s gluttony at its finest.
Related
Old Boys Old Boys
Comedy 2019 95 mins Director: Toby MacDonald
Charmingly idiosyncratic comedy reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac, starring Alex Lawther as a boarder who helps the school hero woo a teacher's daughter.
Afire Afire
Comedy 2023 103 mins Director: Christian Petzold
Fires rage around a pompous novelist and his awkward desires in Christian Petzold’s sharp comedy drama.
Sweet Sue Sweet Sue
Drama 2022 100 mins Director: Leo Leigh
A shameless woman finds her new lover’s son wants to divide them in this cringe comic drama starring Maggie O’Neill.
Cop Secret Cop Secret
Comedy 2021 100 mins Director: Hannes Þór Halldórsson
Two Icelandic cops forced to work together become more than just buddies in this enjoyably explosive send-up of action movies.
Diamantino Diamantino
Comedy 2018 97 mins Director: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt
Diamantino, Portugal’s (the world’s!) top football player, becomes embroiled in genetics and conspiracies, in this joyful, postmodern political fantasy.
Patrick Patrick
Drama 2019 96 mins Director: Tim Mielants
Life on the nudist colony is fairly routine for handyman Patrick (Kevin Janssens), that is until the mystery of his missing hammer sets in motion a quest of self-discovery.
45 Years 45 Years
Drama 2015 95 mins Director: Andrew Haigh
One of the most acclaimed British features of recent years, starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a couple rocked by news from the past.
52 Tuesdays 52 Tuesdays
Drama 2013 110 mins Director: Sophie Hyde
A mother undergoing a gender transition meets his estranged daughter every Tuesday, changing gradually each time they meet. An intelligent indie hit about modern identity.
99 Homes 99 Homes
Drama 2014 112 mins Director: Ramin Bahrani
With precision and pertinence, Ramin Bahrani’s drama reveals the human cost of the 21st-century economic crisis.
Akenfield Akenfield
Drama 1975 98 mins Director: Peter Hall
Peter Hall’s extraordinary, long-unseen work of sublime poetic realism traces three generations of one Suffolk family and their lives in the farming industry.
All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front
War 1930 133 mins Director: Lewis Milestone
Lewis Milestone's pioneering, Oscar®-winning film is one of the most powerful films about the consequences of war
American Gangster American Gangster
Crime 2007 157 mins Director: Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott’s heavyweight crime drama follows the rise and fall of drug-runner Frank Lucas, commandingly portrayed by Denzel Washington.
Anselm Anselm
Documentary 2023 94 mins Director: Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders' stately and beautifully scored study of Anselm Kiefer.
Red Island Red Island
Drama 2023 117 mins Director: Robin Campillo
Writer-director Robin Campillo offers an exploration of memory and politics, in this boldly conceived story of boyhood in 1970s Madagascar.
Girl Girl
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: Adura Onashile
Le’Shantey Bonsu gives a stunning performance as a young girl deeply connected to her mother (Déborah Lukumuena) in Adura Onashile’s tender drama.
Rose Plays Julie Rose Plays Julie
Drama 2021 101 mins Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
A young woman seeking her biological mother veers into dangerous territory in this psychological thriller from Irish directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor.
The Painted Bird The Painted Bird
Drama 2019 169 mins Director: Vaclav Marhoul
Based on Jerzy Kosiński’s 1965 novel, Václav Marhoul’s extraordinary The Painted Bird finds a lone Jewish boy on a dark odyssey towards home.
White Colour Black White Colour Black
Drama 2016 83 mins Director: Joseph A. Adesunloye
A young mixed heritage man confronts the psychological complexities of his identity in this essential, truly cinematic discovery.