Money or Family? To Have Both is Just "Greedy"

Bloodsuckers.

And no, this isn't a movie about vampires!

The Story:

Uncle Joe (Kirk Douglas) is a multi-millionaire.  Naturally, all of his nieces and nephews (Ed Begley Jr., Jere Burns and Phil Hartman among them) are waiting for the old guy to bump off so they can get their hands on their money.  There is no love in the family, except for the almighty dollars that Uncle Joe holds over their heads.  Now with a live-in nurse, Molly (Olivia d'Abo) who isn't a nurse, and the family fears she's simply there to get his money, they turn to a distant cousin, Daniel (Michael J. Fox) a struggling pro bowler to try and get Joe's money so they can all split it.  Will Daniel fall in with his relatives...turn against them and leave Uncle Joe and Molly...or try and get all of the money for himself?

Every once in awhile I find a movie that came out ages ago, I meant to see it... but never did.

Greedy is one such movie.  Nearly 20 years old, I happened upon it while flipping around Netflix the other day.

So I watched, and I laughed.  Always a good thing for a comedy.

It has a great cast, starting with Michael J. Fox and Nancy Travis as his girlfriend.  They use the relationship as a secondary storyline as Daniel's greed as he gets around his uncle and crazy family begins to drive a wedge in their relationship.  Will Daniel choose love or money?

Follow that up with a great bunch of money-hungry cousins, especially Phil Hartman.  I've always found Hartman to be hilarious since back in the Saturday Night Live days, so it was nice to see another performance from him that I had not watched before.  And no, he doesn't disappoint as the vocal ringleader of the family.  Boisterous and yappy, as only Hartman could do so well!

Finally, Kirk Douglas has a great role as the puppet master over the entire three ring circus unfolding under his roof.  He is equally indifferent, amused, mean and scheming, all at the same time.

The movie has an elaborate third act that is completely satisfying for the story, and I was impressed with how well they wrapped everything up.

Glad to have finally seen it after all these years.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: As long as it's streaming I don't need to own it, and I would have no problem watching it again.