Money Kings

Money Kings takes place in the sort of blue-collar New York town where everyone is poor but proud, keeping a dignified stiff upper lip despite an abundance of struggles. Peter Falk stars as an unceasingly pleasant bookie and bar owner who runs his smalltime bookmaking operation like a cross between a social-service agency and a clubhouse. Among Falk’s clientele is a loutish but proud drunk played by the predictably awful Timothy Hutton. Hutton is married to a hard-working but dignified waitress and factory worker played by Lauren Holly, who, along with her role in last year’s forgettable No Looking Back, is racking up quite a collection of unconvincing turns as noble blue-collar waitresses. Into this web of pleasantness wanders Freddie Prinze Jr. as a hot-headed small-time hood who becomes Falk’s unwilling partner. —Avclub.com