Finders Keepers Reviews

A crazy, quirky comedy from director Lester that starts slowly and warms up to provide some funny moments. Set in 1973, the film takes advantage of 11 years of hindsight to poke fun at the early 1970s and to illustrate some of the differences between the two decades. Josef and Georgiana (Lauter and Stephenson) get past the security system of a large estate and loot the safe of $5 million belonging to Georgiana's father. Cut to Michael (O'Keefe), the manager of a women's roller-derby team that has hit the skids. Michael hides from his angry skaters in a used-clothing store and then buys himself a soldier's uniform, planning to board a train from Oakland, California, to New York. When an Army officer at the station begins to grill him about his status, Michael grabs an American flag and drapes it over a nearby coffin, saying that he is escorting his slain buddy back home. Actually, inside the coffin is the purloined loot. Josef and Georgiana decide to go along with the gag to ensure the safekeeping of the money, but a few surprises are in store for them all. FINDERS KEEPERS benefits from the well-judged performances of its energetic cast, with Wayne in particularly good form. In typical Lester fashion, the movie is so frantic that viewers have no time to rest their eyes. Unlike some of this director's other films, though, one wonders if all the work required here is really worth it. The taste in several scenes is questionable but not satirically questioned, rendering the entire exercise rather trivial alongside this filmmaker's best work.