Monkey Trouble

Monkey Trouble

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Franco Amurri
Produced by Mimi Polk
Heidi Rufus Isaacs
Written by Franco Amurri
Stu Drieger
Starring Thora Birch
Harvey Keitel
Christopher McDonald
Mimi Rogers
Alison Elliott
Adam LaVorgna
and Patrick Bingham as Dodger the monkey
Music by Mark Mancina
Cinematography Luciano Tovoli
Edited by Ray Lovejoy
Production
company
Effe Productions
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • March 18, 1994
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Italy
Japan
Language English
Box office $16,453,258[1]

Monkey Trouble is a 1994 comedy film directed by Franco Amurri and starring Thora Birch.

Plot

9-year-old Eva Gregory longs for a pet to call her own, but her divorced mother Amy does not think she is responsible enough, as her room is a mess, and she's completely unwilling to help out at all with her little half-brother Jack. Also her stepfather Tom, a police Lieutenant, is allergic to fur. She cannot keep the pet at her father Peter's house because he is a pilot and travels a lot.

One day, a Capuchin monkey named Fingers runs away from his drunken master, a gypsy thief named Azro, who had trained the monkey to pick pockets and now blames him for Azro's domestic woes. He meets Eva in the park, and she names him Dodger. At home, she finds that keeping him a secret is trouble. She only allows her toddler brother Jack, who cannot speak yet, into her room with Dodger.

As Eva spends certain weekends with her father, one of those weekends arrives. However, Peter leaves a phone message that he's in Canada and can't have Eva over. Eva takes advantage of this circumstance to have a personal weekend alone with Dodger in her father's empty house, and hides her father's answering machine announcement from her mother and stepfather, and has her friend's mother drive her over to her father's house. Once there, they realize that they have no food, but they manage to raise money at the nearby boardwalk with Dodger (who is secretly pickpocketing everybody) as a main attraction. At a grocery store that evening, Dodger steals food and hides it in Eva's backpack, but Eva catches him in the act and returns the stolen groceries. When she returns home, she discovers golden jewelry and wallets in her backpack that the monkey had also stolen. So Eva spends the rest of the weekend teaching Dodger not to steal.

Azro, who has been looking for Fingers all this time, finds and kidnaps him at a pet shop where Eva had left him while she was at school. Azro discovers that the monkey refuses to steal anymore. Meanwhile, Amy and Tom, who has been dealing with reports on stolen jewelry, discover more stolen property in Eva's room. They confront her about it, and Eva tries to explains about her hidden monkey, but they refuse to believe her. Things get worse when Peter stops by and reveals that he had been in Canada all weekend, which reveals that Eva had lied about the weekend. Eva --- already heartbroken at the disappearance of her beloved pet --- is additionally upset that no one will believe her, and so she runs away to look for Dodger. She is accosted by Azro, who is furious about her teaching Dodger not to steal. Meanwhile, Jack ends up saying his first word, "monkey", revealing to Amy, Peter and Tom that there really is a monkey in the house (Dodger had escaped from Azro again shortly after Eva had run off, and had sneaked back into Eva's bedroom) and that Eva had been telling them the truth. They all go out, with Tom's fellow police officers, to look for her. Dodger saves her and Azro is arrested by Tom. Azro's son Mark tries taking the monkey back, but fails. He ends up living with Eva, after she shows her mother that she is responsible and her stepfather discovers that he is not allergic to the fur of monkeys.

Cast

Soundtrack

  1. "Sold for Me" – The Aintree Boys
  2. "Posie" – The Aintree Boys
  3. "Who Gets the Loot" – Quo
  4. "VB Rap" – Gee Boyz
  5. "Girls" – Gee Boyz
  6. "Monkey Shines" – Robert J. Walsh

Reception

The movie received mixed reviews from critics.[2][3][4]

Box office

The film performed poorly at the box office. It debuted at number 3 at the American box office,[5] dropping to seventh place the following week.[6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Monkey Trouble at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ "Monkey Trouble : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". Dvdtalk.com. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  3. ↑ "MOVIE REVIEW : Monkey Shines in 'Trouble' - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1994-03-18. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  4. ↑ Maslin, Janet (1994-03-18). "Movie Review - Monkey Trouble - Review/Film; Harvey Keitel in a Family Movie. Really. - NYTimes.com". Movies.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  5. ↑ "Weekend Box Office : And the Winner Is . . . 'Naked Gun 33 1/3' - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1994-03-22. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  6. ↑ "Oscar Winners Pick Up at the Box Office - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 2000-07-05. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  7. ↑ "Weekend Box Office : 'D2' Scores in Its Opening Weekend - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 2003-10-14. Retrieved 2014-02-12.

External links