For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		1.5

For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 21, 2022

For the Love of Money is surprising in at least one way: there are probably going to be some who can't believe this wasn't a direct to video release, or in fact some made for television outing which quickly matriculated to Blu-ray, but it does appear like this otherwise completely rote production did get some kind of limited theatrical release in late 2021. For the Love of Money attempts to ply a kind of combo platter territory that involves a hard working single mom named Gigi (Keri Hilson), who finds herself beset by an almost Job-like series of calamities (or so the film would have you believe), which forces her into a life of crime, which then gives Gigi her own sense of female empowerment. I guess it's a reasonable enough premise, however obviously derivative it may be, but the film is so preposterous on so many levels that it never is able to generate either drama from its personal relationships or excitement from any of its putative action elements.

While there's some "family history" which may account for Gigi's entrance into (semi?) organized crime, there's simply something overtly artificial about this entire enterprise which makes any perceived "grittiness" transitory at best. It's hard to feel concerned about how a woman is going to make ends meet when she dresses in designer outfits and works (at least for a while) at a club that looks like it came out of the pages of some upscale magazine. An emphasis on Gigi's home life with a daughter is also surface deep and relies on "Tyler Perry"-isms like church recitals in the place of actual character development.

There are some kind of odd elisions in the basic narrative, aside and apart from how exactly Gigi gets swept up in her "alternate" lifestyle. One of these involves her daughter, who seems to be a good church going girl until she gets involved in violence at school, and then becomes the victim of police brutality. It's all kind of thrown together and seemingly intentionally provocative, which makes the story's lack of impact all the more noticeable.

For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For the Love of Money is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Probably unsurprisingly there doesn't seem to be any technical information on the shoot available online (that I could find, anyway), and the closing credits also don't disclose anything of value, so I'm once again assuming a digitally captured feature was finished at 2K. The results are largely pleasing if hardly mind blowing, though fine detail levels on the array of luxe clothing Hilson and other women in the film wear tend to be very good. The palette also pops appealingly for the most part. There are some kind of curious anomalies on display, including some establishing shots that look like they were either upscaled or are littered with things like aliasing and moire (see screenshot 9 and look at the roof of the church, for just one example). Why this should be is kind of perplexing, but it is.

For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For the Love of Money features an occasionally boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that springs to life intermittently when any of the many source cues utilized kick in. Occasional moments like some of the club material or just crowd scenes in general also provide at least sporadic engagement of the side and rear channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While there is a Special Features option on the Main Menu, that turns out to offer only bookmarks.

A digital copy is included, and packaging features a slipcover.

For the Love of Money Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

An attractive cast that also features Rotimi, Jason Mitchell and Katt Williams can't help to elevate material that is clunky and just flat out derivative. This is exactly the sort of fare that some might expect to see on niche cable networks, and my hunch is it may be appearing at a venue like them sooner rather than later. Technical merits are generally okay (video) to good (audio) for those who may be considering making a purchase.