accessAtlanta

'Millions': Sweet film isn't the least bit syrupy

By TERRY MORRIS
Dayton Daily News

Wouldn't it be nice if a satchel filled with money landed in your lap right this minute?

That's what happens to a 7-year-old boy inside his train-shaken cardboard clubhouse beside some tracks in the north of England.

Fox Searchlight 'Millions' B+ Director: Danny Boyle Starring: Alexander Nathan Etel, Lewis Owen McGibbon, James Nesbitt, Daisy Donovan, Christopher Fulford Run time: 97 minutes Release date: March 25, 2005 Rating: PG for thematic elements, language, some peril and mild sensuality. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer   -- Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Millions"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

The bag is stuffed with 229,000 pound notes, or veritable "millions" to Damian Cunningham (the irresistibly cute Alex Etel), a lad with a determination to do good, but also a thriving imagination. He attends All Saints School and often receives solo visitations from haloed saints (Clare, Joseph, Peter, Francis, Nicholas) who offer timely advice, but no word about someone the boy is sure will be joining their club soon.

But let's get back to the money in Millions, the fun, magical and surprisingly tender new film from Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later), who hasn't suddenly gone soft. He injects enough suspense and weirdness to remind that we're never really safe, even in the new plat Damian and his older brother Anthony (the stern, practical and freckled Lewis McKibbon) have just moved into with their dad (James Nesbitt), following their mother's death. The local policeman predicts at the first neighbors' meeting that some of them will be burgled any day now.

Having a stash that someone nasty (a sullen and driven Christopher Fulford as The Man) wants back can only make that more certain. The boys don't know he exists at first, just as their dad is unaware of the money, which was stolen on the way to the government shredder.

With England due to switch from the pound to the euro in less than two weeks, the cash must be spent or converted before then. Converting would mean declaring it and paying a 40 percent tax. So the boys decide to share their wealth. They set out to give it to the poor, but can't find anyone poor. They give some to a faith-based group whose staff spends it on gadgets that are promptly burgled. A lump sum dropped into a charity's barrel at school leads to near discovery and the boys having to fess up to dad.

But it also brings a new woman (Daisy Donovan as Dorothy) into dad's life as the race to fend off The Man and beat "E" or Euro Day begins, which is another thing the boys weren't banking on.

If Millions was all about the money, it wouldn't add up to much. But it's also about family and how a young boy's view of the world is both simple and not so at all.