What Are You Willing To Do For Money? Six 2019 Movies Explore This Age-Old Question

I LOVE movies and easily watch over a hundred movies each year. My favorite aspect of air travel is getting to watch movie marathons – I watched 15 movies in flight on our last trip to the Philippines.

More time for movies is also one of my favorite aspects of the flexible FIRE lifestyle – I’m still giddy over seeing Rowan Atkinson live at a screening of his latest Johnny English film.

On our current trip to Arizona, I watched a three-movie marathon on the flight from New York City, and was struck by how all three films had money as a central character in the film. As I thought about other 2019 releases that I have recently seen, these movies also co-starred money!

I am a personal finance junkie in addition to a film fanatic, so it’s doubly fun for me to mix movies and money. If you love both of these too, check out these 2019 movies that explore the lengths people are willing to go for money

Hustlers

Hustlers, starring Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, is a dramedy inspired by true events about strip club dancers who cross the line into criminal activity, and I won’t say more in case you decide to see the movie for yourself. It’s a fun movie that breezes over the seedy stuff and features great chemistry among the ensemble cast and an impressive turn by Jennifer Lopez (get me to a pole dancing exercise class now, this woman looks so good at 50!!!).

This film has the most obvious depiction of the what-are-you-willing-to-do-for-money-theme. But it also covers other personal finance topics, like overspending – why did they spend so much on bags and furs??? The Constance Wu character even mentions the “Magic Number” where she’d be willing to walk away from it all.

Too bad, she didn’t know there are other ways to reach FIRE!

Ready Or Not

Ready Or Not is a black comedy, and there are some graphic, gross parts – played for comedic effect but still violent. It’s a rags-to-riches story about a young bride from the wrong side of the tracks marrying into an ultra-wealthy family that turns out to adhere to strange and deadly family traditions. If you like the comic horror genre, this is a fun movie. If not, skip it as there’s nothing particularly memorable about the film.

Like Hustlers, the money lesson is laid bare: when you marry into money, you end up earning every penny.

Sword of Trust

Sword of Trust is a quirky, independent comedy about a woman who inherits an old Civil War sword from her grandfather along with accompanying paperwork, that “proves” the South had actually won the war. The woman, her partner and two pawn shop employees then try to sell the items to a white supremacist – yes, it’s a comedy because like Hustlers, it glosses over the more sordid stuff.

Apparently, these “prover items” are in high demand to revisionists and this increases the value up to five- and six-figures for a single item. There is a twist in the movie that I won’t spoil here, but essentially the movie asks these money questions: What items are you willing to trade in? Who are you willing to do business with? Are you willing to pretend you are someone that you’re not, in order to turn a profit?

Ford vs. Ferrari

Ford vs. Ferrari is a true story set in the 1960’s about how The Ford Motor Company beat Ferrari at the prestigious Le Mans 24-hour road race in France. Strong performances by the ever-reliable Matt Damon and Christian Bale and thrilling racing scenes make this a fun movie.

This movie is about business, as much as it is about racing. Damon and Bale play champion race car drivers turned opportunistic car designers, both responsible for significant advancements for Ford in race car manufacturing.

Based on how their lifestyles were depicted in the movies, it doesn’t appear as if either got any bonuses or equity for their contributions – a cautionary money tale that you want ownership, not just salary!

Blinded By The Light

Blinded By The Light is a movie musical directed by Gurinder Chadha, who helmed Bend It Like Beckham. I had the delightful privilege of seeing Chadha speak live about her accidental journey from journalist to feature film director, and she was a hoot – so candid, so insightful, so joyful even when talking about the ups and downs of the fickle movie business.

This film is based on the memoir of Sarfraz Manzoor, a Pakistani immigrant living in small town England. An awkward teenager growing up in the 1960’s, during a time of economic difficulty in England and increasing anti-immigrant sentiment, Manzoor discovered Bruce Springsteen’s music, which gave him the inspiration to find his own voice and follow his own dreams (Manzoor is a working journalist).

Like Ford vs. Ferrari, Blinded emphasizes passion over money – the movie protagonist starts his writing career working for free. But there are money fingerprints everywhere in this film – the value of unpaid internships, the impact of a down market, the commercial rewards that come with mass appeal (like Springsteen had).

Yesterday

Yesterday is a gem of a movie I stumbled onto during a flight to Los Angeles – thank goodness for those individual screens behind the seats! Directed by Danny Boyle of Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, and 28 Days Later (what genre has this genius not done!), it follows a struggling journeyman musician who, through a magical worldwide power outage, becomes the only person alive to know The Beatles existed. He promptly releases all the songs he can remember as his own and catapults to mega-stardom.

This movie is so much fun – the musical performances are great, and Ed Sheeran is hysterical playing himself. The money lesson is about recognizing when there’s a void in the market and moving quickly to fill it. As in Ford vs. Ferrari and Blinded By The Light, the movie protagonist isn’t in it for the money, but we still get to see how quickly the money can follow, when you capitalize on opportunities.

More movies to come

I still have the return flight from Arizona to squeeze in more movies. And as a SAG-AFTRA member, I get screeners end-of-year from production houses hoping I’ll vote for one of their movies for the SAG Awards in January. I’ll report back on any more money tie-ins I notice!

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How about you? What movies have you seen in 2019 that you would recommend – money themed or otherwise?