TIFF Review: ‘$5 Dollars A Day’

Directed by Nigel Cole (“Calender Girls”), Nivola plays Flynn, a health inspector who loses his job at the beginning of the film because his boss discovers that he spent 11 months in prison and he didn’t come clean in his application initially. To make matters worse, his girlfriend (Amanda Peet) is moving out, as she’s discovered the same which has lead to the realization, that much of his life story, including his real name (Ritchie) is a fabrication.

Simultaneously, he receives a letter from his long-estranged scam artist father (Walken) informing him that he’s dying which includes an uncharacteristic plane ticket to come and see him. Like all of his fathers bullshit moves, Ritchie Flynn suspects this tale is bullshit, but with life in shambles and the curious ticket which doesn’t involve him forking over a dime reels him in.

Flynn finds his dad in Atlantic City, leeching off whatever freebies the casinos offer and living off a modest – you guessed it – $5 dollars a day. He has a system rigged up to call and win tickets from the radio to scalp (50 Cent, Spandau Ballet), he scams his way into free coffee and complimentary meals whenever he can and does anything imaginable to never have to spend a cent. A lifelong con man and schemer, its this kind of behavior that has sickened Ritchie towards his father – he’s spent his own lifetime running, trying not to be like him.

The amazing thing about this film is most of this back story is deftly conveyed to us within 10-15 of the film with little reinforcing kernels throughout that never feel contrived or forced. Ritchie hates his dad, but his impending death – a malignant tumor -makes him think he should reluctantly grant him a final wish – driving him to New Mexico so he can visit his old boathouse and a beach of sentimental value.

Of course, being the cheap bastard he is, Walken – who delivers a marvelous performance – maps out a circuitous itinerary full of freebies along the way, including IHOP meals, hotel deals and best of all – a free pink car and free gas, courtesy of a Snapple (I think) contest he won. Sweet and melancholy, ‘Five Dollars’ is a winning father and son road trip film about mending seemingly irreparably broken fences, or as Walken says, making things “copacetic.” Nivola is also spectacular in the movie holding on to an internal grip of resent, frustration, pity and love. Never treacly nor pandering to sentimentality, ‘Five Dollars’ expertly navigates the perfect pitch of humor, tough moments, sadness and redemptive notes to be a wonderfully charming story about a broken relationship that still has time to heal. [A]