Damon Wayans’ new film, Mo’ Money, is not helped much by the inclusion of bits from the hit TV show In Living Color, though the presence of brother Marlon is an asset. It’s not that the all-too-familiar characters are not funny here (when they don’t border on the offensive) but they only slow down the narrative. The Wayans brothers play two street kids who manage to just barely get over with a series of scams. However, Damon, playing the older brother, is already starting to get restive when he meets a beautiful woman (Dash) and follows her to her job at the Dynasty corporation. Next thing you know, our hero is a working man in the mail room of a credit card corporation where he finds himself entangled in a bigger, scarier scam than he or his brother ever dreamed of. It would almost be enough to make him go to the cops, to the long-suffering friend (Santos) of his dead father, who watches out for the boys’ ungrateful rear ends — but that’s against the code of the street. Director Macdonald does a reasonable job of blending the odd mixture of comedy and action, but the combination is never fully in control. Primarily a second unit director, Macdonald shows real verve when it comes to death and destruction and, in fact, the final scenes have gone so cheerfully over the top that most audience anxiety over the silliness of it all is overwhelmed. It’s pretty late by that time though. Since there’s not much here, there is way too much time for cars to squeal around and crash into things and for the Wayans brothers to mug and make fun of buppies, fat people, unattractive women and gay men.
This article appears in July 31 • 1992 (Cover).