We all dream of becoming repulsively rich, to the point where money means nothing other than being the fuel that propels a lavish, over-the-top lifestyle – or at least this is what the general culture seems to think is the case, since everyone is seeking ridiculous amounts of wealth, which is either a result of misreading the tenets of a free market economy, or some deeply deluded attempt to manipulating the population to remain productive until they are no longer useful. Many works of art examine this phenomenon in detail, but as far as I’m concerned, the most essential text on late-stage capitalism and its brutal structures comes in the form of Easy Money, in which the inimitable Rodney Dangerfield plays a happy-go-lucky manual labourer who is more than content with his life, working as a baby photographer by day, and being a man-about-town by night, frequenting various dive bars and strip clubs with his friends. However, when his mother-in-law dies, everything becomes slightly more complicated, as she has left him $10 million, but to attain this fortune, he has to spend an entire year free from any of his usual vices – an easy task for just about anyone other than our hard-drinking, foul-mouthed sexpot of a protagonist, who nonetheless does his best to meet these obligations, but not without several challenges. Offbeat, hilarious and deeply compelling in a way that may surprise many viewers, Easy Money is a terrific film and one that does more than enough to earn our respect, even when it does come across as slightly one-note as certain points, which is easily rectified through a wholeheartedly charming approach to its central ideas, and a performance that leaves even the most cynical of viewers in absolute stitches from beginning to end.

The rags-to-riches story is about as old as fiction itself, and the appeal is not difficult to see. These are tales about individuals rising above seemingly impossible challenges and attaining significant wealth, and all the benefits that tend to accompany it. At its core, this is what Easy Money uses as its foundational concept, and is the idea from which its many fantastic themes tend to grow. Neither the team of screenwriters nor director James Signorelli seem to have any particular expertise on the concept of finance (and this film is far from positioning itself as anything close to an official text on the matter), but they do have a whip-smart sensibility and enough flexibility as storytellers to find the merit lurking behind each moment. There’s something so uniquely charming about a film that examines such a particular subject, but doesn’t rely on any kind of intellect or prior knowledge to be effective. We’d probably find that the film is quite liberal in how it views certain matters, which is perfectly understandable considering the layers of thematic content with which they are working when bringing this story to life. Nonetheless, there are elements of this film that are remarkably funny and oddly prescient – this story could be told in a modern context and be just as fresh and funny, since it is not about themes that we can limit to a particular era, which is often why so many of Dangerfield’s comedies feel so ahead of their time. He touches on issues related to society and its many unconventional quirks. While Easy Money is a far more limited approach to these ideas, their influence on the narrative is impossible to overstate in any way.

I am certainly on the record as being a major devotee of Dangerfield’s comedy, and I’ll proudly flaunt my affection for films like Back to School and My 5 Wives in the face of any opposition. However, everyone can agree that there came a point where he was relying too much on his persona, and all of his vehicles later in life were relatively one-dimensional and hackneyed, even if they were wickedly entertaining. Easy Money is slightly different – it’s the follow-up to Caddyshack, in which the beloved vaudevillian made his major film debut, and therefore, a lot more effort went into this project, especially since he was positioned as the lead, rather than the scene-stealing supporting player, skyrocketed to even higher levels of acclaim. His style of comedy was certainly an acquired taste, but thankfully, one that many seemed to enjoy, which is why he managed to amass such an impressive following, particularly in his later years. He’s such a magnetic screen presence, an actor with such a command over his craft, despite always playing characters that were seemingly always lost in whatever environment in which they found themselves, leading to hilarious scenarios that drew on his inherent charms and penchant for playing such unconventional characters. The rest of the cast is fantastic – Joe Pesci has a sizable supporting role as Dangerfield’s best friend, a man who stands by his companion through thick and thin – and there’s certainly no shortage of such moments for them to bond in this film. Jennifer Jason Leigh has a small early role as his daughter, while his long-suffering wife is played by Candice Azzara, and there are a few well-earned cameos and supporting parts scattered throughout the film, making Easy Money an unexpectedly layered comedy in terms of its ensemble.

One of the reasons Easy Money works is that it allows Dangerfield to run amok as much as he desires, but is also able to rein him in where required. Signorelli’s four-decade career at Saturday Night Live as its video producer gave him the necessary directorial equipment to take a madcap, larger-than-life screen presence and harness his energy to not only be the source of his remarkably funny performance, but also as a guideline for how the rest of the film. Usually, a film like this will function as a vehicle for its star, and everything else is secondary – and while this is true of this film to an extent, there is so much more to Easy Money than meets the eye, and it all comes down to its execution. We don’t necessarily expect to be moved by a film like this, but at the very least we grow fond of its approach to exploring subjects such as the class divide – there is a lot of commentary about ethnic differences and the supposed “superiority” of some groups over others, which the film handles exceptionally well and avoids playing into stereotype where possible – and how society is essentially nothing more than small cliques that exist in opposition to one another, clamouring to see which group is going to reign supreme. This is not the purpose of this film, but it is certainly the root of some of its funniest moments. It also seems to be vehemently against the idea of sentimentality, which is particularly notable considering there are a couple of sub-plots introduced that we genuinely think are going to lead to some overwrought, unnecessarily saccharine moments, but are ultimately red herrings that exist solely to enrich the narrative and fill in the gaps between the film’s broadest and most daring moments.

No one looks to a film like Easy Money for intellectual insights or meaningful discourse on finance or capitalism, but the fact that it unexpectedly evokes these themes is proof in itself that this is a very special film, and one that is worth more than we would expect at a cursory glance. It earns our attention, and at only 97 minutes, its a breezy and easy film to embrace, especially since the entire story is shrouded in a sense of easygoing, freewheeling charm that is definitive of this kind of simple but effective comedy that has seemingly become far too rare in contemporary cinema for reasons that are difficult to pin down. Some attribute it to the fact that every comedy these days needs to have an angle, others because there aren’t many contemporary actors who can sell a film solely on their presence, let alone ones who can command the screen with their comedic skills. Any way you look at it, Easy Money is a lot of fun, and perhaps the perfect example to give to those who may be agnostic to Dangerfield’s skills as an actor, since it gives him the chance to flex his talents and pursue something more complex than the one-liner self-deprecation on which his entire comedy career was built, while still maintaining his unique style and ability to entertain. A masterful showman who was always magnetic on screen, Dangerfield was an absolute gem, and Easy Money is a perfect exemplification of his skills, condensed into a delightful romp through the free market, something only an actor like him could convey with such sincerity and impeccable skill.