Twenty Bucks

Plot synopsis:
An armored truck brings money to load an ATM. A woman withdraws $20 but the bill slips away. A homeless woman, Angeline (Linda Hunt), grabs the bill and reads the serial number, proclaiming that it is her destiny to win the lottery with those numbers. As she holds the bill, a boy grabs the bill from her and uses it at a bakery. The baker sells an expensive pair of figurines for a wedding cake to Jack Holiday (George Morfogen) and gives him the bill as change. At the rehearsal dinner for the upcoming wedding of Sam Mastrewski (Brendan Fraser) to Anna Holiday (Sam Jenkins), Jack reminisces about exchanging his foreign money for American currency when he first came to America, and he presents Sam with the $20 bill as a wedding present. Sam is taken aback by the perceived cheapness of his father-in-law-to-be, but is quickly "kidnapped" for his bachelor party, where he uses the bill to pay the stripper (Melora Walters). Anna shows up to explain that the $20 is not the entire present and suggests they frame it to show that they understand its significance. Sam is unable to explain the absence of the bill, when the stripper comes in from the fire escape to offer it back to him. Anna apparently breaks the engagement.
The stripper uses the $20 bill to buy a herbal remedy from Mrs. McCormac (Gladys Knight). Mrs. McCormac mails the bill to her grandson Bobby (Willie Marlett) as a birthday present. Bobby goes to a convenience store where Frank (Steve Buscemi) and Jimmy (Christopher Lloyd) are engaged in a string of robberies. (During their spree, they prevent Angeline from buying a lottery ticket at a liquor store.) Not knowing he's a robber, the underage Bobby gives Jimmy the $20 bill to buy him wine. Jimmy goes into the store to find that Frank has botched the robbery. Jimmy and Frank leave, giving Bobby and his girlfriend Peggy champagne. The police chase the robbers, who hide in a used car lot. After the police pass by, Jimmy and Frank split up the money, but when Frank sees the $20 Jimmy got from the kid, he assumes that Jimmy is holding out on him. Jimmy tries to explain but Frank pulls a shotgun on him. Jimmy shoots Frank and takes all the money they've stolen, but leaves the $20 bill. The bill, now dripped with Frank's blood, winds up in the police evidence locker but falls into the wrong box.
Waitress and aspiring writer Emily Adams (Elisabeth Shue) shows up at the police precinct with boyfriend Neil (David Schwimmer) to claim some items the police recovered. The police officer (William H. Macy) unwittingly includes the $20 bill. After flying out of the box from the back seat of Emily's convertible, the bill floats around town, and is picked up by a homeless man who uses it to buy groceries. (In this scene, Angeline is again unable to buy a lottery ticket.) The bill is given as change to a wealthy woman who uses it to snort cocaine off the back of her stretch limousine, although she leaves it on her car, where it is picked up by the drug dealer (Edward Blatchford).
The drug dealer also runs a day camp for youth, and he puts the bill into a fish where it is caught by a teen who has it converted to quarters and uses them to call a phone sex hotline in a bowling alley. The bowling alley owner (Ned Bellamy) gives the bill to his lover (Matt Frewer) and tells him to go out and have fun. The Frewer character encounters Sam, who is loitering in a daze behind the bowling alley. Sam turns down an offer of the $20 bill, not knowing it is the cause of his downfall. The Frewer character then uses it to play bingo at a church, where the priest is portrayed by Spaulding Gray. Emily's father, Bruce (Alan North) also plays bingo and receives the bill as change before dying of a heart attack.
At the mortuary, the mortician (Melora Walters), gives the family Bruce's personal effects, including his wallet with the $20 bill. Emily eventually looks in the wallet and finds the $20 bill in the wallet together with a copy of her first published short story. Her mother Ruth (Diane Baker) explains that Bruce also wanted to be a writer. Emily decides to go to Europe. At the airport, she explains her decision to her brother Gary (Kevin Kilner), and she melodramatically rips up the bill in front of him. (Gary was a witness to one of Jimmy & Frank's robberies.) Sam is also at the airport, waiting for a flight to Europe and having a drink with Jack, with the two clearing up the misunderstanding over the $20 bill on good terms. Sam uses a piece of the ripped up bill as a bookmark but it falls out without him noticing it as Sam and Emily walk toward their gate, both striking up a conversation. A title reading "The End" is derailed by Angeline collecting pieces of the bill.
Angeline sits down at a coin-operated TV and patches the bill back together. Just then the lottery numbers are read, and to her agony, they match the serial number of the bill. She goes to a bank and inquires if the bill is still any good. The teller explains that if there's more than 51% of the bill left, it is still valid, and hands Angeline a crisp new $20 bill. The homeless woman dramatically reads the serial number of the new bill and leaves the bank.

Tags: psychedelic, comedy

Review:
The problem with movies that actually try not to insult your intelligence is that they are totally inaccessible and make you feel like you're sitting at a table in the high school cafeteria with the cool kids .
It's a fascinating story of a $20 bill's journey in and out of the lives of people to whom it changes hands.
Sometimes it's only there for a moment, sometimes it's there for days, sometimes it doesn't go where you might think it would go, but it's always an interesting story.
This is a wonderful anthology film that manages to introduce many characters and get you brought up to speed on their lives in a brief period of time.
You know who these actors are, and it's obvious that no one was letting their ego get in the way of telling the story.
It's a wonderful, lovingly crafted movie that is well worth your time to see..
The movie I recommend to friends who've seen "everything".
If you've ever wondered where your money has been, this movie will leave you a little more enlightened...and frightened!
From the G-string of a stripper at a Bachelor's party to the hands of a ten year old in a fishing contest to the frantic hands of a homeless woman with Lottery winnings in mind - this bill's journey is surprising and hilarious.
The stories around the main idea abound and are far from dull.
Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi's scenes are, in my opinion, the highlight of this film.
If you ever decide to doubt the power that one incredible idea can do for a movie, you have desperately got to see this!
Twenty Bucks is one of the most creative ideas ever made into a movie and will definitely earn a few laughs for the writing alone.
While there is no one main character here, the story revolves around a twenty dollar bill.
The movie opens as the money enters circulation, and ends when it is mangled and ready to be burned.
The life of the money is the story of the movie, and it's just delightful!
At times, it appears that it is a good luck charm, and at others a curse sent from God. Steve Buscemi, Brendan Fraser, Gladys Knight, Elizabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, and William H.
Macy all get their hands on the money, and there are several others as well.Apparently, this screenplay was written several years ago by Andre Bohem and nothing was ever done with it.
After quite a long period of time, Andre's son Leslie got ahold of the script and modernized it a bit, and the end result is magnificent!
While there aren't any acting performances here that are going to melt your hearts, each star is really enjoyable to watch in one way or another.
The casting director did a fantastic job of lining up so many recognizable faces, and I found it hilarious that the stripper at the bachelor party (Melora Walters), also played the funeral director near the end of the movie!
When I realized they were the same person, I busted out laughing, and yet was still able to see the incredible irony of the whole situation.If you are watching this because you like one of the actors, then you very well could be disappointed by what you see.
No one of the actors here has a tremendous amount of screen time, but all are quite good to watch.
If you love irony, this is a movie for you!
This is an incredible movie with a great storyline.
The characters are each gems, and the actors playing them are of course, all top-notch names.
I'd have to put this in the same category as 12:01, Groundhog Day and Short Cuts as far as the time/space ironies as lives and events intermix.
Good Cast; Fair Story.
This is a series of short stories, detailing what happens to people holding a particularly twenty-dollar-bill as it switches from owner to owner.
Several of the segments are quite good, my favorites being with the holdup men: Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi.
(Now there's two interesting characters actors, for you!) It's not "familar fare"with strippers, profanity and the usual immoral messages that filmmakers love to give us.
The cast is more interesting and deep than the story..
The variety of stories that surround the 20 bucks makes the movie non-Hollywood.
I like the independent, non-Hollywood style of this particular movie with a plot that actually tells something and people who proof that you do not need a gigantic budget to create a refreshing film..
Twenty Bucks is, quite simply, a movie about a $20 bill.
All this may be unusual but when thinking on the subject, each bill's lifetime is as unique as our own and while unusual, not impossible.Just like with our money, some people hold on to some bills longer than others and these people in the movie are the ones with the longer stories.
Easily the most entertaining story was the one with Frank (Steve Buscemi) and Jimmy (Christopher Lloyd).
It did not overdo it and make me sick of the characters.This is is the type of movie you can recommend to those who have seen it all.
"Twenty Bucks" focuses on a $20 bill getting passed around from person to person, and how we get to see the people's lives: a man whose travels have consisted of a trip to the bowling alley, a drug dealer hosting a summer camp, some crooks plotting a robbery, and some people's attempts at relationships.
And it always shows how people are determined to keep going no matter what happens.Does the movie have any problems?
They did a very good job with this movie, and I recommend it.
Starring Linda Hunt, Brendan Fraser, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi and William H.
The story follows it passing from one person to the next.
There is petty criminal Frank (Steve Buscemi) recruited by Jimmy (Christopher Lloyd) to go on a robbery spree.
These and others characters are all connected by the $20 bill.This is a high-concept film.
It's hard to make the story consistently compelling when the characters keep changing.
Lloyd and Buscemi are a memorable duo but this is mostly a bunch of random people's stories.
A few scenes are worthwhile, it's as a film that if fails completely to entertain.
If you like this sort of montage, run don't walk and get "Tales of Manhattan" (1942) a marvelous film that follows the life and times of a topcoat..
This is one of the best movies made in a while.It centers upon a twenty dollar bill and we follow the Twenty dollar bill from the day it is made on.
We see stories such as a robbery, Scams, Love and a pre-teen ringing phone sex lines.This is a piece of art that should be seen.
One of the Best low-budget films..........
This is one of the Best low-budget films I've ever seen.
The director weaves a wonderful, magical story around a $20 bill as it passes through the lives of a diverse group of characters..
I loved this movie.
And yes while a few of the plot lines were left dangling like the reverend and Christopher Lloyd's character, I left this movie with a feeling of contentment and resolution that was sorely lacking in Slacker.
A favorite for personal reasons to be sure, but still a great movie.
This was by far one of the best movies I have ever seen.
It had a unique approach to tell a story that followed the lives of people and different stages of their lives.
I liked the way it showed what was going on in the life of the person about to get the bill..
This movie was everything I thought it would be and wasn't-- all at the same time.
Like the plot says it's a movie about the life of a twenty dollar bill and how it is woven amongst the lives of everyday people, but the movie presented this in a very interesting way.
My favorite scene was easily with Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi as two crooks.
Elizabeth Shue and Brendan Fraser's stories are sad, but we can relate to them as normal people.
It is interesting how the director shows so much of each character's personality and background with so little screen time.
* Pretty good underestimated film, following a 20 buck note exchanging hands with the prosperous and pikeys alike!
* Pretty good underestimated film, following a 20 buck note exchanging hands with the prosperous and pikeys alike!
Good film to watch when nothings happening in yer head!
Good film to watch when nothings happening in yer head!
Bad film to watch if your not a fan of Ross from Friends as he has a face like Cliff Richard, you'd never tire of slapping it!.
Bad film to watch if your not a fan of Ross from Friends as he has a face like Cliff Richard, you'd never tire of slapping it!.
TWENTY BUCKS (1993) *** Elisabeth Shue, Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, Linda Hunt, Melora Walters, David Schwimmer, Alan North, Spalding Gray, Gladys Knight.
This film was written in 1935 by  screenwriter Endre Bohem shortly before his death.
He completed the script, updated it for a more modern audience, and filmed it with director Keva Rosenfeld.
A mother with her hands full uses an ATM machine, drops the bill in her hassle, and the story begins.
The rest of this film follows the bill through the hands of 12 complete strangers who, through various ways, pass the bill to one another.
Along the way, the note weaves in and out of the lives of a street person, an aspiring writer, two thieves (a hilarious Steve Bucemi and Christopher Lloyd), and a stripper who also...well, I won't ruin it for you.
Look for such faces as David Schwimmer(NBC's "Friends"), Elisabeth Shue(Leaving Las Vegas), William H.
Macy(Fargo, Wag the Dog), Brendan Fraser(The Scout, George of the Jungle), and Steve Bucemi(Reservoir Dogs, The Big Lebowski).This is a great film to watch with a group of friends.
The Movie I Recommend To Everyone.
This is the movie I always recommend to people when cool indie films come up.
I don't want to spoil the movie, suffice it to say that this is one of the most TRULY engaging films I've ever seen.
You may think that the movie is disjointed with no commonality, but this is not the case.
This movie was made in a thoughtful way for thoughtful people and each story has the denouement we all crave!
I've seen this movie a few times and am surprised that I have never purchased it..
This movie is by far the worst movie ever, The story line is weak and never shows what happens to the people after the 20 was left they hands.
The only good thing was the cast, WOW, lots of big time actors and actress in it.
a story about how the money is spent.
Twenty Bucks is a story about a twenty dollar bill.
Rather then focusing in on plot, the movie trades in the "same ole same ole" genre, and tries something different...following the path of an ordinary, twenty dollar bill, and seeing how the money is transfered from person to person.
From the minute it comes out of an ATM machine, to then end of the film, when the twenty dollars finally gets...ummm....well, it's torn up enough lives, I think it had it coming!
Buscemi and Lloyd are a mismatched double act while Brendan Fraser plays a nervous groom-to-be well.
David Schwimmer shows that he was never meant for movies - even in 1993 - while Elizabeth Shue excels as a budding writer.7/10.
Well, that's the basic premise of this little gem of a movie.
Unfortunately, this low budget indie by director Keva Rosenfeld and written by Leslie and Endre Bohem, didn't go far, as one would have wanted it to go.
We see faces in the film from distinguished actors like Steve Buscemi, Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Shue, Linda Hunt, William H.
Of course, most of them had not achieved recognition at the time, but their talent was all there for us to see and enjoy.The film follows that twenty dollar bill until its surprising end at the bank when Angeline, the homeless woman, receives a brand new twenty in exchange for the original, but dilapidated bill.This movie will delight anyone who wants to spend a happy time with a surprising and warm film..
Probably one of the best indies I've seen in a long time.
This film monitors the life of a $20 bill from it's birth at an ATM machine to it's sudden death at an airport.
It changes lives and it destroys lives with a surprisingly big all star cast from the likes of Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, Elisabeth Shue, Christopher Lloyd, William H.
Particular standout performances include David Schwimmer as a thinly veiled disguise of Ross as a whiny, neurotic who takes hair baldness prevention chemicals and Christopher Lloyd and Steve Buscemi as a mismatched pair of convenience store robbers.
Definitely a film that should be seen by all..
One of those strange little independent films that pops up late one night on your television set occasionally and makes you ask "where the hell has this been hiding?" That's not to say that it's a great movie or anything but it certainly is interesting.
The film follows a $20 note around, sometimes deviating to follow characters who are not in it's possession , or at least have not had their hands on it yet.
The film is directed in a sloppy fashion at times including a poorly edited scene involving the Gladys Knight character scaring some kids at a diner window and for the best part lacks the style its premise eludes to.
I think it would have been a lot more memorable , though a hell of a lot less subtle, if the likes of Tarentino had got their hands on it but that I suppose is neither here nor there.
Also the storyline involving her character's grandson added nothing but a poor attempt at humour by an over confident young actor and his unconvincing first love in a short story theme lifted from 'American Graffiti' about an underagers' eventful attempts to obtain alcohol.
As has been acknowledged by most commentators Christopher Lloyd's scenes with Steve Buscemi(who must now be recognised as the patron saint of independent American pictures) , centering around a cold and calculated armed robber and his new , loose cannon, partner are the standout of the film.
By the end of the picture you feel let down by Lloyd's character not re-entering the fray.
Also watch out for Ross Geller , yes I know that's not his real name, in an early pre-Friends role portraying a character who almost acts as a prototype for Shwimmer's most impressive outing in a film role as one of the slimy pioneer surgeon's of 'Breast Men'.
What let the film down for me in the acting department was Brendan Fraser who produced an uninspired performance as an uncertain groom to be whose character admittedly suffered from a complete lack of explanation and development.
Instead he just comes across as a loser who wasn't grateful for what he had.Some unnecessarily elaborate and quick plot developments which seemed designed to but failed to deliver any laughs , ie- a cocaine dealer organizing a fishing tournament for kids one of who ends up phoning a sex chat line, only helped to frustrate one into wondering what was happening to the main characters and when would we see them again?
Macy as a fidgety , bored cop and Linda Hunt as preachy , pretentious vagrant whose constant speeches ultimately cost her the destiny which she believes is about to be bestowed upon her, redeemed the scenes that included them and in Hunt's case tied the movie up nicely.
Despite all of the famous stars a viewing of the film pretty much awakens one to why it never got any kind of major cinematic release.
If you liked this or have an interest in similar low budget star packed features then check out the far superior 'Trees Lounge' which starred and was directed by one of this film's most notable names Steve Buscemi..
This is a really good movie..
I saw this movie about 2 years ago when I was digging through my grandparents old VHS tapes.
At first, I really didn't want to watch the movie, just because it looked weird and i've never heard of it, but when I read the back...
In the hands of a crook, in the stomach of a fish, in the G String of a stripper?Another interesting thing about this movie is that it follows the lives of everyone that has the twenty dollar bill.
Honestly, it's a really good look at life.--ACTING- Superb.
Keeps you interested, and you won't zone out or anything.SCRIPT- Really good.
10/10OVERALL- I really enjoyed this movie.
9/10RECOMMENDED VIEWERS- More of a movie for people who like to think about life, but anyone can enjoy it, so- watch this movie!.
Neat little film.
Director Keva Rosenfeld keeps the offbeat, original, and interesting premise moving along at a constant brisk pace as the characters from each individual segment overlap in subtle and surprising ways.
Moreover, there are excellent performances from Linda Hunt as a flaky bag lady who's obsessed with winning the lottery, Elisabeth Shue as struggling writer Emily Adams, Brendon Fraser as hapless blue collar schmoe Sam Mestrewski, William H.
In an especially inspired touch, Melora Walters appears in two segments as both a stripper and a funeral home director; this speaks volumes on how people sometimes have dual lives and further makes a provocative point on how some folks had to work a second part-time gig on the side in order to keep themselves afloat in the recession-stricken 1990's.