Fantastic!

Charming and brutal

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The story if you look at it from a broader perspective really isn't that bad. But when you put it under a microscope it meets every definition of the word absurd. They plug a guy into the matrix, er I mean the HX-368 or whatever and has to live his life as a freedom fighter named Neo, err I mean a monkey named Daisy. Then he has to help an oppressed culture called the Na'vi who are a peaceful and primitive people, I mean... he gets stuck inside an interactive simulation called the Matrix...what? Actually what I am trying to say is that Overdrawn at the memory bank on its surface is really not all that retarded when you look at it when compared to stories like the Matrix and Avatar.It's just that Overdrawn at the memory bank's writers decided to not clue us in on anything to have the story make any sense! Why is Fingal going to die if he doesn't get out of the Matrix--I mean the HX-368! How exactly does Fingal manage to interface the computer by reversing the access code!? What does this all mean? Why should we care? These answers unfortunately are not ever answered. The writers wanted to portray a 1984-esque future without any explanation for anything that's going on, and that makes the story pretty lame... just like Avatar. Oh, and for some reason in the future everyone hates anteaters.

Without the MST3K (Mystery Science Theater 3000) trio making fun of this movie it is completely worthless. Raul Julia, who was otherwise a good actor is totally wasted in this movie. As for plot line, there isn't one which is why the MST3K crew had a field day with it. Visualize a really bad dream, turn that into a screenplay mock of a good movie which becomes a film, then you have the general idea of "Overdrawn At The Memory Bank."The only redeemable features of this movie are two of the cast members who characterize Lorre and Greenstreet from the 1941 classic Casablanca. Mike Palmiter, Williams, IN (written 9-5-06).

Actually, the core concept at the center of OATMB is a good one: in an future fascist society, one "creative thinker" is punished for his "subversive" follies-- watching old Hollywood films-- by being given "rehabilitative" treatment-- being sent on vacation in the brain of a baboon. By a deus ex machina (the establishment misplaces his brain) he gets the chance to mess around with the computer that controls the world (including the weather and the financial system) and eventually brings down the head brain in charge of it all. It wants to be a more optimistic version of "Harrison Bergeron", basically.And it fails horribly. It's the textbook example of a good idea that was handled by deeply inept people (kind of like FEMA). Much speculation has been made over how they got Raul Julia to star in this thing. I'm guessing he read a (very early) first draft of the script, thought it was a great idea, signed on, then couldn't get out. The end result is like a staging of "Hamlet" by a troupe of high school freshmen-- which MST3K also got a hold of, by all accounts.And as far as all the slams against the use of video vs. film-- get over it. Everything PBS showed in the 80's was filmed on video, as I recall.

I'm giving this movie a 10, not because it's a classic, but because for the B-movie genre, it's one of the best I've ever seen. The cheesy computer effects are hilarious. It's one of those films where you wonder "How much weirder is this going to get?" If you can get into the mind of a sentimental dreamer, this won't disappoint. How can you resist Julia dressed as Humphrey Bogart? Pure, asinine genius. If you go into this with a sense of humor. It's a lot of fun. Even with it's obvious continuity flaws it manages to entertain. If you like anteaters, be forewarned. There's a lot of anteater bashing. The plot is like a low-budget "Total Recall." Heat the popcorn and get ready to laugh.