$1000 a Minute: Spending cash has never looked this exhausting

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for pre-code era frantic energy and characters who talk like they’ve had six espressos, you’ll probably get a kick out of $1000 a Minute. It’s light, it’s silly, and it doesn't try to solve the world's problems. If you need logic or pacing that makes sense, skip it. You will absolutely hate how often people just run around in circles.

The whole premise is just an excuse to watch a guy sweat for 12 hours. Roger Pryor plays the lead with this manic, wide-eyed desperation that feels almost exhausting to watch after the first hour. He’s tasked with spending $1,000 every single minute. That is a lot of money for a movie from 1935. You start doing the math in your head and realize, wait, that’s actually impossible to keep up.

The millionaires are your classic, daffy rich guys. They treat the whole thing like a science experiment, which is honestly kind of cruel, but the movie plays it for laughs. It reminds me a bit of the vibe in Collegiate—that same sense of people being trapped in a loop of their own making. Watching them try to force him to buy useless stuff is the best part.

There's a scene involving a bunch of extras that feels like it was filmed in one take, and you can see someone in the background almost trip over a camera cable. It’s those little, messy moments that make the whole thing feel human. It’s not polished, but it’s real.

Notes from the couch:

• The pacing hits a wall about halfway through where I actually checked my watch.
• I’m still not sure why they chose a reporter for the experiment, but okay.
• The hats in this movie are truly something else. Some of them look like they’re defying gravity.
• There’s a weird cameo by a guy who looks like he wandered off the set of a different film entirely.
• It has that same chaotic energy you might remember from Mile-a-Minute Romeo, only with more suits and less dust.

The movie gets noticeably better once it stops taking its own rules seriously. By the end, they stop counting the money properly and just start throwing furniture around. It’s not great art, but it is fun. Sometimes that’s enough. 💸