Money

After a semi lazy day yesterday I decided to catch up on some of the stuff on my Sky Plus. I seem to have a load of TV shows and films clogging up the old memory and usually no time to watch it. Last night I decided to plough through Money from BBC2’s 80’s season a month or two back.

The two-part TV show has been adapted from Stephen Amis’ novel about a successful British TV commercial director who goes to New York to make his first movie. John Self, played by Nick Frost, is a lazy slob and an alcoholic with unhealthy relationships with almost everyone else around him including his Father and girlfriend, Selina Street (Emma Pierson). As he staggers drunken through the surreal world of American filmmaking lead by the unheard of producer, Fielding Goodney (Vincent Kartheiser) life becomes weirder and weirder. As Self struggles with his loneliness in the states, his lusting for an old flame – Martina Twain (Hattie Morahan), suspicions of Selina’s infidelity back home he also has to battle with ultra ego actors as well as always searching for the identity of his Mother.

As John Self struggles, searches and aspires to earn the big money to make it and set himself up Fielding convinces him he’s a genius as he woos investors, rewrites the script himself and the film gains investment quickly and smoothly. Fielding leads the way and sets everything up ensuring John that it wont be long before he gets the money he desires. Being stalked by a man who calls him regularly, but never shows his face Self seems unfazed, but as the film grows and takes flight Self finds himself laying off the booze and starting a healthy relationship with Martina. The only problem is that normality doesn’t feel comfortable for John.
When Selina comes back into his life to ruin his relationship with Martina John falls off the wagon big style. As he drowns his sorrows in a seedy bar and is told that his credit has run out he gets a call from the voice telling him to meet him in the lane. John is jumped and beaten by what looks like a woman, but turns out to be his Producer – Fielding. As it all unravels Fielding explains that every contract and agreement John signed was a cheque or expenses and he himself has been paying for everything, not a studio or investors. Fielding set up the entire charade from start to finish paying actors to play the role of investors and anything else they needed to drain John of every penny.

Self flees back home to find the successful advertising agency he built in the UK went bust when he left. He has his furniture and TV repossessed. When he turns to the one person he thinks may help, his Father turns him away telling him he isn’t his Father. A final reconciliation with his real Father sees him find the truth behind his Mothers leaving and receives the money that she had tucked away for him. John changes his surname to that of his real Father’s – People, not Self. He uses the money left him by his Mother to buy a pub with his real Father and settle into normality.

Money is a strange story of greed, excess and money. Self’s drive to earn money and his lust for the big time leads to his downfall and he loses everything he had. Not happy with what he has he always wants more – money, women, booze, and food. The more he had the more he wanted and it was only when he lost everything that