Impersonal Finance

I really didn’t like this movie much the first time I saw it. Maybe it was because I dd not understand a lot of what was going on, or maybe it is just one of those movies which aged really well. The history of movies is littered with movies that garnered very little fanfare or interest in the original showing, but over time has gained popularity or cult status. Two examples off the top of my head would be “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Shawshank Redemption”. Even though Shawshank received some Academy Award recognition, the ticket sales were extremely mediocre.

After seeing “Other People’s Money” again, I realized the genius of this movie. The cast was brilliantly chosen and the acting was dead on. That being said, you can read a review of this movie at www.rottentomatoes.com. The general critical reviews were pretty unfavorable, but I would rather focus on the economic and financial aspects of the film.

The movie involves a professional corporate raider named “Larry the Liquidator” (played by Danny Devito) who buys up stock in smaller, profitable companies for the purpose of taking over the board of directors and liquidating the company for cash. The company then ceases to exist and most if not all employees are out of a job.

The gist of the movie is that Larry wants this small family run business, but to install his own board and take over the company he must beat a gorgeous attorney (played by Penelope Ann Miller) that he also wants to see romantically. He beats her and wins control of the company. In the end, however, he wants her too much and agrees to sell the company back to the employees at a very nice profit. Incidentially, in the unproduced version, he gets the girl and has a child with her, the owner of the company dies two years after the takeover and Larry’s own company is about to be taken over by an even bigger fish.

The romantic scenes are typical Hollywood. No way in hell could someone who looks like DeVito get someone who looks like Miller outside of Hollywood. It’s the whole fat guy/hot wife theme that is repeated in shows like “King of Queens” and “Grounded for Life”.

The best scenes of the movie are the actual financial scenes. The hostile takeover scenes are filled with great drama and great speeches. One side arguing against greed and the other side arguing for thinning out the herd and prioritizing profit over people. A reviewer from Amazon.com suggested fast forwarding to the scenes at the proxy meeting where two spectacular speeches are given. I think they are the highlight of the movie, but the movie should be seen as a whole. The inner workings of a takeover as well what is involved in a shareholder meeting are done well and in a way that is not dry or boring.

There is no true moral conclusion to the quandry. The shareholders choose money over people, but Larry chooses love (and a tidy profit) over principle and needing to control the company. It is hard to say who wins and loses because the movie ends so ambigiously. You want to believe that he took the money and got the girl, but then again, negotiations do not always end the way you would want them to.

I am not going to do any kind of star or thumbs up kind of rating system. Rather, I will say that its a very solid movie and worth seeing at least once.