This was the first RODNEY DANGERFIELD movie I ever saw!!
Definitely one of RODNEY's BEST...5 Stars maybe even 6!!
I'm sorry to hear RODNEY isn't with us anymore!!
I rate this movie a 8 from 1to10!!

While "Easy Money" may APPEAR to be a simple comedy, it really confronts us with many problems of our human condition. Monty (Dangerfield) is shown as a child photographer who is good at his job. We soon learn that he has several vices. (Smoking, drinking, some illegal drugs, gambling, and some lustful desires) But he is an EVERYMAN. Most of us have at least 1 vice. To some extent, we are ALL Monty. Soon afterwards, a will from his mother in law offers $10,000,000. to Monty if he can shake off all his vices. (And lose weight on top of that.) Monty's friends confront us as well. They are GREAT at telling Monty why he should go through with it. They are also REALLY GREAT AT TELLING Monty he should not drink, smoke, overeat, etc. But they continue to do it themselves, and at times IN FRONT of poor Monty. Again, to some extent, we are all Monty's friends. To make matters more difficult, Monty's rival heir Clyde (Jeff Jones) wants the money for himself, so he looks for ways to tempt Monty into his former vices. (To a large extent, Clyde represents the presence of the devil.) Clyde CAN NOT force, but he can CERTAINLY tempt. Quite convincingly, Monty's tense feelings start to get the better of him, and the movie stops being funny. A notably sad scene is where Monty loses his job. (For the record, I am guessing the boxing scene was taken out for 2 reasons. (a.) In uncut form, there was nothing to indicate Monty had fallen asleep. (b.) In a way, the boxing scene breaks the consistency of the film. Monty losing his job is most appropriately followed by his crying in front of the tv.) Moving on, comedy reenters when Clyde offers Monty a great job. But little does Monty know that Clyde is going to make one final attempt to defeat Monty. (Like the devil, Clyde can't just pull something out of the sky...Monty to some extent has to consent by accepting the job...and the patterns of Monty as a person have to somehow be involved.) In yet another moment as the devil, Clyde confronts Monty's friends with their hypocrisy: "If you're really Monty's friends, you'll stop making it so hard for him...You do want Monty to have the money don't you?" In a well done scene, tensions explode at Monty's house, and we see that the desire of money can destroy our lives that undoubtedly had their problems, but really weren't so bad to begin with. SIDE NOTE: Check Paul's letter to Timothy in the Bible: "For the love of money is the root of all evil" ('Timothy' 6:10). Without ruining the ending, Monty comes through magnanimously. On a trip to Coney Island, he invites and forgives his friends (who could have been more helpful to him), someone who accidentally wounded him, and even Clyde who tried to tempt him throughout. But the devil (Clyde) does get one small but significant consolation prize that he laughs darkly at. And this is true to life too. Usually when we think we beat the devil, he manages to get a small consolation prize. (Remember the end of "The Devil and Daniel Webster?") Low class comedy? Not on your life! "Easy Money" confronts us with our weaknesses, as well as our hypocrisies. It also shows us how the desire for money can hurt us; it shows how the devil works; and it shows the beauty of forgiveness.

This a a very funny movie! Dangerfield and Pesci work great together. The 3 star rating is for the low rent DVD treatment. This really deserves an upgrade! Still a must have for me!

They cut out the Boxing match scene where the lovely Kimberly McArthur(the babe on the lawn) is re-exposed to Rodney when her top pops open in temptation! WHY DID THEY CUT THIS SCENE OUT OF THE VHS AND DVD RELEASES??? Otherwisw, it's a funny movie.

Why they cut out the boxing match scene from the DVD is beyond me.

This film captures Rodney D at his peak of popularity and comic genius, a true original! Joe Pesci and the entire supporting cast are also fantastic.
But to cut a major scene out of the film is just criminal!

Movie 5 stars, DVD has no extras & deleted scene = 3 stars