I have always been of two minds when it comes to these movies based around some toy or property without a plot. Firstly I think they are rediculous and are dumb to be made, then secondly I think here is a recognizable marketable property with a clean slate for a new and creative storyline.
Monopoly is one of those ideas. I figured it was just going to be about some unrelated Real Estate Financial Drama plot where some slacker buys up the slums and takes down the two mega conglomerates each holding one of Boardwalk and Park Place. But it seems that Ridley Scott has a different take on the movie.
The story stars a loser type fella in Manhattan who sucks at selling real estate, but he’s great at Monopoly. Irony! When he tries to beat the world Monopoly playing record, 70 days straight, his friends tell him he’s an idiot and tease him. Words are exchanged and he throws down a chance card and goes to bed. The next day he wakes up and . . . he’s in Monopoly City, where everyone pays for things in Monopoly money, and there are buckets and sports cars and everyone stands around waiting for this tiresome game of life to end but it never will, it never will.
So as with any movie based on a board game the obvious Jumanji paralells are going to arise, and this is like a reverse-Jumanji. He isn’t in the world being affected by the game, he is in the game that is the world.
I am sure a life lesson will come from it, and he will be freed from the game once he learns to be a good real estate sales man. Or after he lands on Free Parking.
