Some Latin guy escapes a jail out in the country and makes it to his sister's apartment in the city no problem. In the meantime, JW is some working class kid studying business. He lives in the dorms and works writing term papers for his rich friends and driving a cab at nights. But he aspires to much higher circles, he parties with his rich classmates pretending to be something he's not while they are in an entirely different league. His boss at the cab company is some Arab involved in all sorts of shady affairs and JW knows it. In fact, he wants to move up and do some more lucrative work. So the Arab offers him an opportunity. He wants JW to meet up with the Latin guy because he's very important to him. As JW finds him, some bad guy is after the Latin guy, it's a Serbian mafia enforcer. JW follows them out to the woods where the Latin guy gets a good beating. JW manages to save him from the situation and the boss wants him know to take him into the dorms and take care of him. They end up becoming friends of sorts.
The Serbian now is ordered by social services to take care of his daughter. Just at the time when his boss decides to declare war on the Arab mobsters over the cocaine trade in town. JW meets a lovely girl at one of the parties and gets involved with her but of course the relationship is based on lies.
The Latin guy is key to the Arabs' expansion of the cocaine business. His cousin can provide them with large quantities of drugs. JW proposes to the boss that they launder the money through a bank. As coincidence would have it one of his rich friend's father owns a bank that is in serious financial trouble. JW suggests the boss buy a stake in the bank that way they could forge the documents to not alert authorities of the dirty money. He would get a good cut from the transactions. Even the bank guy reluctantly agrees knowing full well where the money is coming from. JW's business smarts impress all the bad guys.
Now JW's cab-driving colleague, another Arab, decides to sell them out to the Serbians. When the boss finds out he gives the guy a good beating in front of JW who for some reason is shaken to the core by this. Apparently he's under the impression that the drug business is a peaceful matter. Then suddenly the Serbian appears and tells him that the business is full of treachery and deception and that he shouldn't expect to make a whole lot of money. Instead he will offer him several million to tell him the location of this upcoming big drug shipment. JW agrees. But someone else also has a change of heart as well. When the drug shipment arrives several characters converge on the scene and things don't turn out as planned for anyone. The movie ends hinting at a sequel and it looks like JW will have another change of heart.
Easy Money wants to be some realistic gritty crime saga, but it's not. It's some emotional drama that relies on a bunch of unlikely coincidences piling up on one another and plenty of unlikely scenarios. JW is so naive even though he works as night cab driver...for a mob boss. Uber/Lyft drivers have more street smarts than this guy. And why a working class tween would be so abhorred by the slightest sign of violence is not clear either. The introduction of the little girl into the Serb's life is also ridiculous. He drags her around everywhere as if people in these immigrant communities don't have friends/relatives to help out.
Direction is off most of the time and so is the music which tends to set the opposite mood of what the script requires. As all Scandinavian productions this is filmed mostly in shades of gray. We get it, it's cold there, but that doesn't mean colors have vanished.
Kinnaman is a likable and charismatic guy. Some of the details the director does get right as when JW who usually is insecure and out of his element comes to his own when he is explaining financial stuff. The relationship with the girl is initially well handled but why he can't resort to her in his time of crisis makes no sense.
Still, Easy Money is a wasted opportunity.
The Serbian now is ordered by social services to take care of his daughter. Just at the time when his boss decides to declare war on the Arab mobsters over the cocaine trade in town. JW meets a lovely girl at one of the parties and gets involved with her but of course the relationship is based on lies.
The Latin guy is key to the Arabs' expansion of the cocaine business. His cousin can provide them with large quantities of drugs. JW proposes to the boss that they launder the money through a bank. As coincidence would have it one of his rich friend's father owns a bank that is in serious financial trouble. JW suggests the boss buy a stake in the bank that way they could forge the documents to not alert authorities of the dirty money. He would get a good cut from the transactions. Even the bank guy reluctantly agrees knowing full well where the money is coming from. JW's business smarts impress all the bad guys.
Now JW's cab-driving colleague, another Arab, decides to sell them out to the Serbians. When the boss finds out he gives the guy a good beating in front of JW who for some reason is shaken to the core by this. Apparently he's under the impression that the drug business is a peaceful matter. Then suddenly the Serbian appears and tells him that the business is full of treachery and deception and that he shouldn't expect to make a whole lot of money. Instead he will offer him several million to tell him the location of this upcoming big drug shipment. JW agrees. But someone else also has a change of heart as well. When the drug shipment arrives several characters converge on the scene and things don't turn out as planned for anyone. The movie ends hinting at a sequel and it looks like JW will have another change of heart.
Easy Money wants to be some realistic gritty crime saga, but it's not. It's some emotional drama that relies on a bunch of unlikely coincidences piling up on one another and plenty of unlikely scenarios. JW is so naive even though he works as night cab driver...for a mob boss. Uber/Lyft drivers have more street smarts than this guy. And why a working class tween would be so abhorred by the slightest sign of violence is not clear either. The introduction of the little girl into the Serb's life is also ridiculous. He drags her around everywhere as if people in these immigrant communities don't have friends/relatives to help out.
Direction is off most of the time and so is the music which tends to set the opposite mood of what the script requires. As all Scandinavian productions this is filmed mostly in shades of gray. We get it, it's cold there, but that doesn't mean colors have vanished.
Kinnaman is a likable and charismatic guy. Some of the details the director does get right as when JW who usually is insecure and out of his element comes to his own when he is explaining financial stuff. The relationship with the girl is initially well handled but why he can't resort to her in his time of crisis makes no sense.
Still, Easy Money is a wasted opportunity.