Funny Money on AllMovie

Leslie Greif directs this adaptation of Ray Cooney's hit British play, a throwback farce about mistaken identity. Chevy Chase plays Henry Perkins, a listless late-middle-aged executive in a wax fruit company; his wife, Carol (Penelope Ann Miller), is similarly bored, a struggling sculptor and housewife in Hoboken, NJ. On his way home from work to a surprise birthday party Carol is throwing, he accidentally switches briefcases with a Russian mobster. He opens the suitcase at a local bar and discovers five million dollars inside. He rushes home and tries to arrange a flight to Barcelona for Carol and him so they can take the money and run. Detective Sergeant Genero (Armand Assante) shows up later; he saw Henry at the bar and is suspicious of his actions. The Perkins, along with their friends Vic and Gina Johnson (Christopher McDonald and Alex Meneses), concoct an elaborate plan to fool the detective, which is only complicated by Carol getting sloppy drunk, the arrival of a homicide detective (Kevin Sussman), a famous gallery owner (Rebecca Wisocky), Henry's boss (Robert Loggia), a frustrated standup comic cabbie (Guy Torry), two more identical briefcases, and the party guests. The comic action reaches a climax in a standoff with Mafia kingpin Mr. Big (Zoltan Butuc).