Excellent, smart action film.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

This might be the least challenging game show ever devised. I mean, all you have to know is how to pick a suitcase and have it opened. There are some factors that make it work.Howie Mandell is the perfect host for this. He brings humor and personality to the table. He can over state the obvious and sell water to an Arab without being annoying (just imagine Gilbert Godfried trying to host this show).Then, the show sells the models (sex) in that in a lot of them, 24 great looking women all wearing the same gown march out with suitcases to open on stage. There are more women wearing the same dress here than in most non-celebrity weddings.Finally, there is the banker. Sitting in the dark glass room throwing out offers after each set of bags is opened. He or she calls on the phone and makes calculated offers to either tempt or create a boo from the audience. They are the wild card to the show. We don't need to know who the Banker is though we do on some shows. What is important is this evil persona thrown in to put us all on our guard for the next financial crisis.Still, the package holds up enough along with the contestants friends and relatives to create entertainment. There is no violence here, and the innuendo is usually pretty harmless. Mandell is always topless and the models are always ready for the next ceremony. Sometimes they even cut the pay scale by using Contestants with the bags instead of models.Strange how this works, but it does pretty well.

All that happens in this entire show is models holding numbered briefcases walk out, then the host (that famous and hilarious guy who starred in the movie "Walk Like A Man" in like 1981 then disappeared until now) asks the contestant to randomly pick numbers. Then they open those cases. Wow! That's it. The object is to not open the cases with big dollar amounts in them. A completely random game. After each round, the "banker" (a shadowy figure in a booth overlooking the studio floor - possibly one of the host's "Walk Like A Man" co-stars) calls down with an offer to buy the briefcase the contestant selected. Then they have to decide if they will take the offer or shout "NO DEAL!" and put the smack down on a big red button, which is so dramatic a moment I simply cannot put it into words. This show is almost as boring as watching grass grow. It says nothing but horrible things about our society that this random-numbers-guessing-game is a highly rated TV show.

Please, spare me!! This program was watchable at its beginning, and Howie Mandell is a likable presence. And even now, he does the best possible, given his "script," and the guests which the producers have chosen.I must admit, though, I still watch it some, with the sound muted about 90% of the time or more. Almost without exception the contestants act like yowling hyenas or screeching magpies, and their actions are a good approximation as well.If there are those who feel as I do, then suicide watches should be established for the inevitable moment when Howie says "...change your life" one too many times.The game is a simplistic lottery, with no way the contestants, who usually avow they have chosen a case with big bucks, could possibly have any intelligent reason for so believing. And then the Stepford models wish them luck, and purport sometimes to act if revealing a huge amount is somehow their fault. All they do is walk-on and stand like attractive cyborgs, holding an object with a figure enclosed which nobody viewing has any notion as to its amount.So why do I watch at all? First, it has reached the level, like some movies, as being so bad that it is (sometimes) pretty "good," in a fascinating way. And I hope to catch the occasional contestant for whom you can "root," who has the intelligence to take the 6-figure offer, perhaps $200,000 or more, rather than risk opening the one large case remaining, among several smaller ones. This would be like someone having a $200,000 bankroll in Vegas, and laying $150,000 on the table, knowing if they picked a low card (among, say, 4 or 5) they could make a nice winning but if they selected the high one, their 150 thou would be gone. No sane person should make this wager. Yet several who could have walked away with a quarter of a million or so have opened one case too many and left (if smart) with 30- to 50-thousand. But several of these have continued and opened the last reasonably large case to leave with $10,000 or less.Even the best poker players - the pros - go "on tilt" - playing stupidly the nest hand or two after a significant loss, compounding the problem, even though they know better. The contestants on this show do this a maximum speed.I'd also like to see the occasional show (only one I saw was close to this, although there have probably been some others) where a contestant opens almost nothing but low amounts.The reverse would interesting, where a contestant might open the cases with the nine largest amount initially.One other fact. Among the contestants, as well as the three friends/family each one has on-stage (they must be endured, as well, as well as Howie's banter with them) most seem to have one thing in common: whatever their ages, backgrounds or interests, few look like they have ever pushed away from the dinner table early, or refused additional helpings.On a recent program, the man playing turned-down $41,000, and then opened the last big case ($300,000) with $5,000 the highest of the few then remaining. He got to the point of a $2,500 "offer, with two cases remaining - $5,000 & $10. He kept "his" case, walked away with ten bucks, but with Howie's affirmation that he has a lovely family. On another, A young Korean man, for once a likable, non-annoying presence, announced his folks had come to America with just $750 to make a new life. His parents were in the audience (and thankfully, likable as well), and he had the good sense to take $200,000+, with $75, $750 and $750,000 remaining. The was indeed an interesting coincidence, and his case contained $750, more interesting yet. But Howie treated this as if it were just shy of being on the order or the "second coming." This show does not lack hyperbole in any way.

When I first saw this show, I didn't think to much of it, as it doesn't take too much skill or thought to win, all you need is one thing; Luck.Question is, why do I like this show? It's exciting and entertaining to watch. The best part is when it gets down to "crunch time"; You can see the large amounts of money on the board. You see the contestant having to chose the case and hope it doesn't contain one of the large amounts of money. Next, you've got those models opening the cases; Very beautiful; And the "bank" makes their offer to buy you off for as little as they can. In the end, you'll see if that person got a good or bad deal in the end.This is where it gets exciting., as you can hear me screaming in front of the TV, "NO DEAL!!" or "Take The offer and get out!!!" (At times, that's the nice way I say it). Many times when I watch it people with me are telling me to calm down or relax it's only a game show).It's a show that's very easy to get wrapped up in it.The other thing I like about it is the humor. Howie Mandel as he talks to the "bank" tells you what the bank says, which is usually trash talk,or at times, they have even done mini performances like in the Chruistmas show where they bring out a carolers, "trash singing" to the tune of "Jingle Bells" and make the offer. Rude, but funny.In addition, when they go to a commercial break, Howie will lead you on that it will continue now and once he gets you "hooked" then he says something like "we'll find out when we come back". You want to scream for bring suckered into it, but at the same time you want to laugh because it's funny. Howie is very good at that.Deffinatley a show worth watching.