Brian Austin Green (left) and Alena Savostikova (right) star in “Golden” (Photo Credit: Level 33 Entertainment).
(“Golden” trailer courtesy of Trinity Content Partners)
A wise person once said that all publicity is good publicity.
Another wise person also said that controversy sells.
If those statements are true, the stars are aligning for veteran Brian Austin Green (“Beverly Hills 90210”), who has returned to the spotlight thanks to the revelation of his past romantic relationship with actress Tichina Arnold (“Martin”).
On the heels of addressing that tabloid story, Green stars and executive produces the new movie “Golden,” now available in theaters and on video on demand.
Unfortunately, Green takes a golden opportunity and only produces a solid movie, nothing spectacular, with “Golden,” which also stars another veteran actor, Glenn Plummer (“South Central” and “Menace II Society”).
In “Golden,” life is beginning to stress Frank (Green) out.
He has a steady job working at his father Pops’ (Robert Miano) print shop.
However, Frank is approaching a milestone birthday.
While some people did not make it to Frank’s age, the print shop worker is upset because his life is not where he wants it to be.
There is a woman who has caught his eye.
But he has not made his move yet, much to the dismay of Pops.
His hesitancy with the ladies is probably why his family life is nonexistent.
On top of that, Frank still lives with his father in his old age.
But there is still some hope for Frank.
Because of his talent as a printer, Frank can accumulate large amounts of “cash” to build his dream home in Mexico.
After completing a printing job for his crush, Melody (Alena Savostikova), Frank makes a trip from his California hometown to Mexico to put down a deposit on the property.
Unfortunately, crooked police officers take his deposit money.
When Frank informs the realtor about the theft, she gives Frank 24 hours to come up with the cash.
Additionally, she forces Frank to give up his Rolex watch as collateral.
In “Golden,” the realtor has another potential buyer for the property who wants to use the next-door plot of land for parking for their elaborate parties.
The perplexing question is, how does a print shop worker earn enough money to replace the down payment money for a large plot of land in Mexico in just one day?
In fact, how can he afford it in the first place?
One character in “Golden” knows just how Frank can afford to fund his dream home in Mexico.
Melody stumbles across some of Frank’s funny money in her flyer order for her bar with her boyfriend, Axel (Josh Gilmer).
And when Axel finds out about the funny money, he stumbles into the print shop and demands that Frank print him some counterfeit money too.
Although Frank wants no part of Axel at first, when the bar owner threatens to tell the feds about his counterfeiting operation, Frank finally agrees to do business with the couple.
However, he will only deal with Axel and Melody if they work on his terms and follow his rules.
He forbids them to spend the funny money in America.
Instead, Frank wants them to exchange the funny money for pesos in Mexico.
He warns them about doing business with banks.
Frank tells Melody and Axel to avoid big hotels and stay on the margins of society to avoid detection.
In “Golden,” Axel and Melody agree to Frank’s terms.
But when Axel’s lack of discipline and greed make him cross paths with some unscrupulous characters, it threatens to blow up Frank’s whole operation, putting all three of their lives in grave danger.
Unfortunately, Axel is so over his head that multiple groups might want his head.
The storyline in “Golden” is compelling.
But the intrigue begins to wear off as the movie progresses.
Unfortunately, it is as if some of the actors south of the border are not able to keep up with the actors who came in from the Golden State.
Although Green and Plummer have never been considered movie stars, they are both solid actors who were household names in the 1990s.
It is good to see that they still have the chops that they had a few decades ago.
Furthermore, both 90s stars are kind of perfect for a crime film like “Golden” because they both had some street swagger back in the day.
Therefore, it is not hard to envision someone like Green as a white-collar criminal.
Although “Beverly Hills 90210” was a preppy soap opera, Green’s David Silver character had the most hood in him thanks to Green’s love of hip-hop culture.
Additionally, Plummer was one of the first heroes of 1990s hood cinema.
And his performance as Bobby feels like something one of his O.G. characters from the 1990s might have become as they got too old for the traditional streets.
Although “Golden” is a heist film, it does have a moral, which is present in many crime movies.
That moral is when is enough, enough?
When is it time to ride off into the sunset?
And when does greed become one’s downfall?
“Golden” also has the likable criminal that viewers will root for and the stupid criminal that viewers will wish harm on.
But despite the promising premise, “Golden” never reaches the gold standard of crime movies and eventually drags on towards the end.
That is unfortunate, because Green had a golden opportunity to capture some of his past glory because things lined up perfectly for a breakout project, thanks to the hype he was recently getting on the Internet streets.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
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