Where the Money Is (PG-13) No Rating

"Where the Money Is" might be the cinematic equivalent to Viagra.

Story

Let's hear it for the old guy, who, in this movie, comes off sexier than his buff, young accomplice (Dermot Mulroney). OK, the old guy happens to be the gracefully aging icon Paul Newman -- as a feisty heistmeister who dodges a long prison sentence and then teams up with his equally conniving rest-home nurse (Linda Fiorentino) on a bank job gone wrong. "Where the Money Is" is breezy, suspenseful, and as much a love story as anything else -- if you call mentoring a new life in crime a kind of love. The mission-improbable caper is no more or less entertaining than a "Rockford Files" rerun, but the film's swerving joyride takes its real thrills from the great escape that Fiorentino's Bonnie Parker makes from a dead-end life in the married lane.

Acting

Newman still hasn't lost it, and as Henry Manning he doesn't miss any nuances in the edgy balance between streetwise wariness and amiable rapport with his sultry new colleague. The steam-powered Fiorentino has forged her career by making danger look casual, and this is her most alluring work since "The Last Seduction" added another zero to her salary. Her chemistry with Newman, a flirty twist on the idea of honor among thieves, is really what makes this movie worth seeing. Mulroney is serviceable as the dim but lovable hubby, a supporting role that's more foil than fully etched character.

Direction

We can all thank director Marek Kanievska for deciding not to have the May-December duo end up in the sack and leaving them simply professional cohorts. The director's admirable sense of comic timing works all the better by not letting the laughs get in the way of his leads' exploration of their characters -- although there's no denying the limits of this frothy genre. Perhaps, Kanievska's greatest feat here is allowing Newman to retain his dignity in close-up.

Bottom Line

An enduring star and some good laughs; it could have been worse.