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Fantasia 2021 – Baby Money Movie Review

I enjoy watching movies without knowing anything about them. With Baby Money I went in completely blind. I’m so thankful that I did as part of the Fantasia Festival.

This was the best decision I’ve made this week. Baby Money is simply fantastic. It drew me in from the opening credits.

The opening sequence is animated and is pivotal in setting up the story. Imagine some nice synth music coupled with fantastic animation. This transported me to an 80’s music video in my mind while preparing me for what’s to come. The animations are pretty sick. Definitely worth paying attention from the beginning.

I know that this is a hot take, but I even think the opening is be better than some of the early Bond movies. That’s saying a lot in my opinion.

Imagine if your girlfriend was pregnant and you have no money. As we all know, baby’s are extremely expensive. I guess I can understand why someone might think that a supposedly “easy” job for a big payday would be the best idea. When that robbery goes awry, your first choice might be to take shelter in an unexpecting mother and son.

The cast is perfect and the performances are ones that could definitely be added to their IMDB bios.

Baby Money is directed by Mikhael Bassilli and Luc Walpoth based on a script by Bassilli and MJ Palo. The film stars Michael Drayer, Danay Garcia, Joey Kern, Travis Hammer, and Taja V Simpson.

I haven’t watched The Walking Dead in ages. Danay Garcia is the star of the film. I thought her performance is perfect.

Travis Hammer is also great in the film. His characters hair should have been a  character in it of itself. All joking aside his performance is a standout. Hammer is awesome as the villain in VFW (also a great performance). If you’ve not watched VFW, you’re missing out.

Another amazing performance was turned in by Simpson. Her monologue to her son will have you in tears, at least if you have a soul. It is powerful and expresses the love that only a mother can have fire their child.

I didn’t expect to cry during this film, but here we are. You’ll experience a variety of emotions, from shock, anger, and sadness.

Baby Money is intense throughout, but the final act will have your heart pounding. The tension during the final act is intensified by the constant rotating of the  blue and red lights off the police cars outside.

Synopsis:

Minny (FEAR THE WALKING DEAD’s Danay Garcia) is pregnant. Great news, right? Not exactly. This was unexpected and not exactly welcome, but she and her boyfriend, Gil (MR. ROBOT’s Michael Drayer), love each other and are sticking with it. But babies are expensive and neither’s prospects are the best, so a quick break-in with Tony (Travis Hammer) and Dom, and they’re in for some quick money to help start a new life together. The job goes real south real fast, however, and Dom and Gil are on the run real quick. They find themselves hiding out in the home of Heidi (Taja V. Simpson), a nurse who treated Minny and her cerebral palsy-afflicted son, Chris (Vernon Taylor III, who has palsy in real life). Now they’re all in a hostage situation with a hot property they need to sell off fast so they can try to make it the hell out of there before the cops find them. It’s not how anyone wanted this to go, but this is what you have to do to make BABY MONEY these days.

Watch the trailer:

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The Author

Jim Napier

Jim Napier

Lover of movies and The Big Lebowski.