Brewster’s Millions was an incredibly fun comedy flick with the great Richard Pryor turning in a hilarious performance set against an outrageous but hilarious premise.
Brewster’s Millions
— Collector’s Edition | Shout Select —
(1985)
Genre(s): Comedy
Shout Factory | PG – 102 min. – $27.99 | January 14, 2020
Date Published: 01/05/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Shout Factory provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 4.25/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: After losing his position as a minor-league pitcher, Montgomery Brewster (RICHARD PRYOR) learns his great-uncle has left him $300 million. To inherit it, Brewster must spend $30 million in 30 days under a complicated set of rules that forbid him from donating too much to charity or retaining any new assets when the period is up. Unable to share details about the will’s odd conditions with anyone, including his best friend (JOHN CANDY), Brewster sets out to spend his money under the stern eye of paralegal Angela Drake (LONETTE MCKEE). Quick Hit Review: Brewster’s Millions is a brilliant comedy with the social undertones one expects from a Walter Hill film but even without, still is just an all around hilarious film and the feel-good kind. It was also the perfect vehicle for Richard Pryor, someone I’m more familiar with his feature film roles than his stand-up comedy, which generally were starkly different. This one in particular, is rather safe outside of one scene involving Pryor’s Brewster trying to get it on with a beautiful woman. By today’s standards, this could be considered a family-oriented flick and does have a nice message for young and old. Anyway, as for the movie itself, and this being my first viewing even though I’ve heard of it before, I loved just about every moment even a third act that pretty much has similar beats to other comedies from the 1980s (and beyond). Richard Pyror I don’t has ever been better in terms of the movies I’ve seen (still have catching up to do on his 1970s time period) and this is something that is still relevant to today, especially in terms of politics with the whole “None of the Above” campaign Brewster wages. In terms of the supporting cast, John Candy serves well opposite Pryor though not entirely sure he was the right fit in a secondary role like this (compared to his heart-felt performance in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but he was fine in an underutilized role while Lonette McKee was a nice, fresh face (for the time anyway), a bit of a shame she didn’t take off. All in all, Brewster’s Millions was an incredibly fun film that still holds up today as it did back then and Richard Pryor was pitch-perfect, not sure many others could’ve pulled the role off like he did. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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This release comes with a matted slip cover. The interior cover is reversible revealing the film’s original poster artwork. As the original Universal Blu-ray was barebones, this Collector’s Edition has some new features. Audio Commentary — Film Critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold, of Critically Acclaimed podcast, break down the themes of the film, and analyze Richard Pryor and his character but keeps it light-hearted and makes for a fun listen (enough I will give their podcast a shot). Also included is a new Interview (10:59) with Co-writer Herschel Weingrod, the 1945 Adaptation (1:18:52), the Theatrical Trailer (1:28) and a Still Gallery (7:11). |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| Shout Factory, through their Shout Select line, releases Brewster’s Millions onto Blu-ray presented in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer, and without looking, I’m going to guess this is the same one that Universal used for their Blu-ray release from 2017. Even so, I did think the picture here looked pretty good, it may not be incredibly sharp but the natural film grain is still present and colors are do seem natural in appearance. There were a couple instances of some specs but nothing all that egregious in an otherwise respectable transfer. |
AUDIO – 4.25/5 |
| The disc includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track which, like the picture, was likely provided by Universal, which outputs fine dialogue and some modest depth with the score plus ambient noises such as the bustling sounds of New York City. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Brewster’s Millions was an incredibly fun comedy flick with the great Richard Pryor turning in a hilarious performance set against an outrageous but hilarious premise. Not sure if this is my favorite Pryor movie (still prefer See No Evil, Hear No Evil as he worked opposite Gene Wilder), but this is one well worth picking up. |