Easy Money

4.5 stars... another hard-charging Scandinavian crime thriller
What is it with those crime dramas and thrillers out of Scandinavia? There is of course the Millenium trilogy out of Sweden a few years ago, and earlier this year an equally enthralling "Headhunters" out of Norway, and now we (finally!) get this movie out of Sweden.

"Easy Money" (2010 release from Sweden; 124 min.) brings the story of JW (played by Joel Kinnaman), an economics university student in Stockholm who is driving a cab on the side to earn extra money. His Serbian boss in the (black market) cab company is also dabbling in the underground drug scene, and soon JW is given the opportunity to make extra money there too. JW needs the money as he really wants to fit in with some of his (upper class) university friends, where he also meet Sophie, whom he talkes a crush on. The movie then takes its time to lay out fractioning Eastern European drug gangs in Stockholm (as small as they are), and at one point JW is approached by the rival drug gang, to snitch on his own. Will...

(4.5 Stars) "Snabba Cash" gets a US DVD release ala "Easy Money". An awesome underworld crime thriller!
In 2006, Swedish criminal defense lawyer and author would write the noel "Snabba Cash", as part of the "Stockholm Noir" trilogy. The novel would become the fourth best selling novel in Sweden in 2007 and it caught the interest of Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa ("Safe House", "The Fighter", "Outside Love").

Because of Espinosa's upbringing in Skogas and his Chilean roots, he understood how it was to hang out with Yugoslavians and also hanging out with the upperclass in Sigtuna. So, he can identify with the story of "Snabba Cash". And the first film adaptation was released in theaters in 2010 and would received critical acclaim and become one of the best selling films in Sweden.

Filmmaker Martin Scorsese helped give the film recognition in America and the film was also part of a major bidding war in which the Weinstein Company acquired the rights to the film but also for a remake which will star Zac Efron.

With a sequel of "Snabba Cash" having been...

Twisty plot worth the subtitles
I had to watch this twice to really understand it. At first I was just interested in Joel Kinnaman after watching "The Killing." He's a fine actor. The story is compelling and I'm looking forward to Snabba Cash II.

It was hard to follow since there is not always transitional material between day/night and Jorge/Mrado storylines in the beginning. I also had trouble distinguishing voices of who was on the other end of a phone call. This might be because I was reading subtitles and don't understand the language of the speaker. There are at least three languages, probably four in this movie: Swedish, Spanish, and English, likely Serbian is the fourth, but I'm guessing.

Subtitles are all in English.

This movie is good for people who enjoy complex story lines with lots of twists. JW's social climbing is subtle and well played through his clothes and on his face.

Click to Editorial Reviews