Free Money

Charlie Sheen is someone who hasn't really impressed me in the last decade or so. Maybe it's because he's been in two dreadful sitcoms, Two And A Half Men and Anger Management. Two shows that are so lazy that they just name him Charlie and let him play a variation of himself. Maybe it's his showboating in the media. He seems to try to hard to be the hard partying bad boy of the press. But when he announced earlier this week that he has the aids virus, I started thinking back to a time when his talent was front and center instead of his wild lifestyle. The man can do drama, Platoon, and comedy, Hot Shots. So I thought over the next few entries I would look back at some of his forgotten films that are worth checking out. First up, 1998's Free Money.

Sheen and Thomas Haden Church play Bud and Larry, two dim witted friends who date the twin daughters, Holly and Christin Watson, of an evil warden named Sven "The Swede" Sorenson, Marlon Brando. The twins lie to their dad, telling them they are pregnant. Sven forces the guys into a shotgun wedding with his twins.He also turns them into slave laborers at his prison. Bud hatches an escape plan for him and Larry involving a train robbery, but Sven has other ideas for them.

Maybe this wasn't the best movie to start off as a Sheen showcase, because this is Brando's picture. He seems to have a field day playing Sven. Both menacing, bizarre, and funny, Brando chews the scenery. Sheen is good, as is Haden Church, who can do this kind of role in his sleep. But when Brando is on screen, everything else takes a backseat. This and The Score were his two last films, showing that he went out with a bang.

I'm surprised more people don't know about this movie. It's really funny and the supporting cast includes Donald Sutherland, Mira Sorvino, and Charlie's dad Martin.

It's available on dvd.