It’s time for a film about the dangers of rampant greed. Pretty much everyone in this film is either trying for money or status. Just about none of the characters are all that likable which can work out well enough for a comedic film where everyone is getting wrecked. I would say it definitely does work in this instance. The characters are all obnoxious but not outright malicious or anything like that. That’s the line you want to be careful about crossing after all and the film does a really good job on this one.

The film starts off with James being reminded that he is super broke to the point of being near bankruptcy. What had once been a vast empire of wealth has been absolutely squandered. He really did a terrible job of utilizing his assets and was too showy about buying everything. He has one chance though, a rich relative is dying and so he might be able to get a lot of money. The family is super stoked but then it turns out he has given the money away to a random girl he saw at a show once. If she can’t be located, then the family will get all of the money so they must ensure that this “Florie” character never hear about the news. That…or they could find her first to keep her in the dark.

The latter seems like an absolutely terrible idea so naturally that’s what they go with. If you ask me, that’s just a bit weird and will give her the idea that something is up. How many people actually pay attention to the newspaper right? I think if James and the others hadn’t actually done anything then this film could have played out very differently, but again that’s where the greed comes into play. They just stretched themselves a little too thin and ultimately that came back to bite them.

One big story element that intertwines with this is that Therese wants to impress her boyfriend by taking care of a poor soul for Christmas. This is apparently something that is used as a bragging chip to an extent. All the rich people are doing it, or at least so she says. So she brings in Anthony, a washed up actor who has serious drinking issues and he will stay with them for a little while. The tricky thing about this is the guy doesn’t move around much so they all tend to forget about him and he ends up overhearing a lot of juicy information. He is now a potential liability so they have to be careful or he will wreck the whole thing for them. Can they really stop him though?

Now as far as this plot goes, my hot take is it’s still good that they brought him in. Even if it was for completely selfish reasons and they didn’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts, it barely matters to me. For example, lets say someone donate a million dollars to a local orphanage and you later find out it was because they desperately needed the tax break it would get them. Well…the kids still got the money so I don’t mind that the rich person benefited from it. At the end of the day, if you do a good action, I’m glad to see it even if the action itself was not heartfelt. Obviously if it’s a scam and the orphanage did not benefit then that’s a whole other issue.

So Anthony has a nice house now and a place to rest. I would argue that this is really all that matters in the long run. Anthony isn’t the greatest character either as he is dealing with his own issues but he definitely has more of a conscience than the other characters. He was doing his best to make sure that Florie wasn’t totally left out to dry although it took him a long time to really make a final decision. Also he continues to be drunk for a long while and I was hoping he would really beat that addiction during the movie.

The writing is really what makes this film entertaining. The story itself isn’t necessarily exciting on its own but it’s fun to watch this group of amateurs try to succeed in their big plot. It’s clearly over their heads in a big way but they continue to try regardless. James has that complete confidence yet paranoia that makes for a good combination. He’s good at bluffing but definitely panics when it doesn’t work. Therese is a little too eager for outside approval the whole time and uses deceptions to try and make herself ready. That’s also not a good way to go about things.

Stephen is pretty direct about not trusting Anthony from the start so I appreciate that. He basically said out loud what the rest of the characters were thinking. Anthony was a solid wild card to throw some tension into the mix. I also liked Florie for that role, especially as she got a solid twist early on. I also think the whole idea of the uncle giving all of his vast fortune to a random show girl he met over his own family speaks volumes to the family themselves. You definitely shouldn’t take for granted if the money is coming to you or not when someone passes away. That will always be a true wild card after all right until the end.

The ending wasn’t particularly satisfying even if they were trying for an uplifting message there. It’s completely not the direction I would have taken the movie but it’s not like it wrecked everything or anything like that. It may not have been where I wanted the movie to go but it’s not particularly egregious. Just expect to shake your head the whole time.

Overall, The Cheaters is one of those films where the main characters get off pretty easy. Sure, they may not have hurt anyone directly but they were effectively trying to steal millions of dollars and especially back in the day that was a ton of money. I don’t think they really deserved to get any of the money at the end. Apologies are all well and good but it was a little late by that point. I think they should have just vowed to do better with their money. After all, did they actually learn anything by the time the film was over? I’m not sure that they did and that’s definitely a real problem here. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were to pull this kind of stunt again. Actually that would have made for a funny ending even if it might be contrived to have someone else dying.

Overall 7/10