Millions (2005)

Gary wandered into the room about a half-hour in and stood there for a few minutes before asking, "What is this? It's fascinating." And, indeed, it is at the beginning. Widower moves his two young sons into a brand-new subdivision and we quickly find out that the younger son is a bit fanciful. He talks about the saints at every opportunity, to the discomfort of his new schoolmates and teacher. After a regular enough start, we get an out-of-left-field visit from St Clare in Damian's appliance-box fort. He seems unfazed -- happens all the time. And then a bag full of soon-to-be-defunct pounds (changing over to the Euro soon) crashes through the roof. I mean, wow.

I enjoyed the visits from the saints. I really liked the relationship between the brothers and their very different ideas of the best way to use the money. I loved the father and his first steps with a new lady. But, in the end, the story didn't hold it together. Bad men coming after the cash just got in the way of the narrative. Better, in my opinion, for the cash to have been completely theirs and any bad men to be visible only to Damian -- just like the saints. I also didn't like the middle-of-the-night long line of beggars. I mean, what the heck?

Definitely original, but just not as marvelous as it could have been.

B