Line #1 Film/Greedy


1	[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/greedy_1994_movie_poster.jpeg]]
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3	''Greedy'' is a satirical 1994 comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and featuring an EnsembleCast.
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5	Multi-millionaire scrap metal tycoon Joe [=McTeague=] (Creator/KirkDouglas) is a GrumpyOldMan confined to a wheelchair, who's going to leave his fortune to a member of his family. As he has no children of his own, his prospective heirs include his niece Patti (Creator/ColleenCamp) and nephews Carl (Creator/EdBegleyJr), Frank (Creator/PhilHartman), and Glen (Creator/JereBurns); their respective spouses, Ed (Creator/BobBalaban), Nora (Creator/MaryEllenTrainor), Tina (Creator/{{Siobhan Fallon\|Hogan}}), and Muriel (Joyce Hyser); and their various children.
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7	The greedy, backstabbing, BigScrewedUpFamily members bicker amongst each other as they try to win Joe over into giving one of them his money, but it doesn't work, so they hire a detective to track down his estranged brother Daniel (Francis X. [=McCarthy=]), but Daniel and Joe don't see eye-to-eye, so then there's Daniel's son Danny (Creator/MichaelJFox), the favorite of Joe and a professional bowler with arthritis in one of his hands. When the other relatives tell Danny about Joe and his personal nurse (Creator/OliviaDabo), whom they believe is a GoldDigger planning to sleep her way into Joe's will, Danny agrees to help them try to talk him out of leaving his fortune to her.
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10	!!This movie provides examples of:
11	* AlliterativeFamily: Several of Joe's prospective heirs have tried to suck up to him by naming all of their children after him. Carl and Nora's sons are named Joseph and Jonas (both called "Joe" for short), and they have a third son on the way whom they plan to name Josiah. Patti and Ed's daughters, meanwhile, are named Jolene and Joette.
12	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The [=McTeagues=], with the sole exception of Daniel Sr., are all backstabbing assholes who jockey for an old man's money. Frank takes the cake for hitting his son and driving his wife to the bottle. Even Danny is nearly consumed by greed, although he gets better.
13	* CallingTheOldManOut: Danny has a loud argument with his father on the subject of greed and materialism, in which Danny chooses Joe over his father. [[spoiler: Danny later reveals to his girlfriend that his "father" was an actor hired to create the scene for Joe's benefit, leading to a WhatTheHellHero moment.]]
14	* CentralTheme: Greed can corrupt anybody and make them into something they never wanted to be.
15	* CoolOldGuy: When he isn't being manipulative or callous, Uncle Joe can be a pretty genial and awesome dude. Despite being wheelchair bound, [[HandicappedBadass he still manages to successfully wrestle Danny in his pool]]. [[spoiler: Of course, it turns out he wasn't disabled, but still that's a surprising degree of strength for a man over 70]].
16	* TheDogBitesBack: Douglas, Joe's mistreated butler up and leaves Joe [[spoiler: after he turns out to be broke and forced out of his mansion. When Danny asks what will happen to Joe, Douglas responds "[[IronicEcho He can dance the hully gully for all I care.]]" Subverted since it was all an act by Uncle Joe with Douglas playing the part.]]
17	* DrowningMySorrows: It is implied [[LadyDrunk Tina]] drinks to cope with being married to someone like [[{{Jerkass}} Frank]].
18	* EntitledBastard: Joe's relatives all believe they are entitled to the money ''he'' earned in business.
19	* FreudianExcuse: Joe's [[BigScrewedUpFamily horrible squabbling cousins]] all try to argue they're the 'victims of this story', convinced the rich old man gradually destroyed their innocence and made them ''obsessed'' with his millions and trying to one-up each other. As the plot runs its course however, we see the only thing they're victims of, is BelievingTheirOwnLies.
20	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A number of events imply that something is a bit off with Uncle Joe, such as his attempt to contact an old business that has been gone for twenty-five years, despite Joe being sure that he'd spoken recently. This also applies to Joe being [[spoiler:easily fooled by a paid actor posing as Daniel. This seems to be a setup for TheReveal that Joe is senile and broke. It is actually setting up Joe's reveal that he was testing his family all along by ''faking'' senility.]]
21	* GoldDigger: Joe's "nurse", Molly, is accused of being this though the film makes clear that they haven't slept together. After she was ready to sleep with him to secure his loyalty, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she ends up leaving due to the realization of how low she had sunk]]. [[spoiler: Her appearance after TheReveal suggests that she may have been faking that persona for the benefit of Uncle Joe's grand scheme.]]
22	* GranolaGirl: Daniel Sr. is a male version, being a radical hippie type who fights injustice around the world. His falling out with Uncle Joe was after the old man said unsympathetic things about the oppressed migrant workers.
23	* HeelRealization: Danny gets one when [[spoiler: his ''real'' father shows up, forcing him to admit to the scam he pulled with the actor]].
24	* IJustWantToBeLoved: After ParentalAbandonment, Joe focused his life on building an enterprise, eventually becoming a rich CorruptCorporateExecutive. Then one day, he lost the love of his brother Daniel over his [[ItsAllAboutMe greed and apathy towards the poor]]. He had a VillainousBSOD realizing if his closest family member didn't love him, why on Earth would anyone else from the [[GoldDigger asshole McTeague family]] feel any kindness or compassion for him? [[spoiler:He later devises a SecretTestOfCharacter to see who remained really loved him.]]
25	* {{Jerkass}}: All the family members, to a certain degree, but Frank takes the cake for [[HateSink being the most abusive, aggressive, and conniving family member]].
26	* KarmicJackpot: Invoked. [[spoiler: Joe pretends to be broke, testing to see which of his relatives actually cares about him. When Danny proves he cares about him more than money, Joe rewards Danny big time]].
27	%%* LadyDrunk: Tina, oh boy!
28	* MoodWhiplash: [[spoiler:After the nurse quits her job, Danny's girlfriend Robin, who accuses him of being as greedy as his relatives, dumps him on the spot. It turns out that in the next scene, she was right.]]
29	* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler: Subverted: After the family is informed that Uncle Joe is suffering from dementia and that he is actually broke, one of the relatives accuses him of this. He is then informed that the condition is quite real, as are Uncle Joe's debts. Only it's a double-subversion: When Danny decides to take care of his uncle despite there being no profit in it, Joe reveals that he actually was faking it all along (even pretending to be fooled by an actor that Danny had hired) and that he isn't really broke. Danny and Robin insist that they will only stay with him if the lies and games end; Joe agrees - then he gets out of his wheelchair.]]
30	* OnlySaneMan:
31	** Ed, to an extent. He is just as greedy as anyone else, but he understands the damage competing for an old man's fortune has done to him and everyone, and is able to find the words that make everyone ''almost'' walk away from the fortune.
32	** Robin who also is aware of what the money is doing to Danny and warns him accordingly.
33	* ParentalAbandonment: Joe and Daniel were abandoned by their mother as toddlers and left in a county hospital. As Joe put it, he was "homeless before it was cool". The rest of the [[BigScrewedUpFamily McTeague family]] wanted nothing to do with them - until he [[GoldDigger made his fortune]].
34	* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Joe is suffering from dementia and is actually broke. Then, later, Joe was ''faking'' senility and he ''isn't'' broke. Oh, and it turns out he doesn't even need his wheelchair.]]
35	* SecretTestOfCharacter: The whole plot is revealed to be one of these. [[spoiler:Joe's supposed advancing dementia and thousands of dollars of debt were all pure fiction, as he wanted to test which of his nieces and nephews actually cared about him and not just his money. When Danny and Robin are the only ones to stand by Joe after he appears to have lost everything, Joe admits the ruse.]]
36	* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil:
37	** Happens to Danny with greed. He first seems motivated by trying to at least keep Uncle Joe safe from the other relatives (who are quite happy to have the man declared incompetent and put into a home), only for him to eventually become as manipulative and as greedy as everyone else, [[spoiler: culminating in him hiring an ''actor'' to portray his estranged father just so that he could side with Joe in a scripted argument.]] When confronted with his real father, he finally realizes what he has done and he more or less describes the trope: one thing didn't seem wrong, then another thing didn't seem wrong, until finally nothing seemed wrong.
38	** Ed himself sums it up quite nicely:
39	---> '''Ed''': Every time you draw a line in the dirt, you say, "Okay, I go just this far and no farther." He draws another line, just an inch farther and you say, "Why not? It's just another inch, I've already come this far already," and one day you look back and you can't even see where you started. Why don't we all agree to stop here? Let this bimbo have his money. I mean, isn't our self respect worth more than any inheritance?\
40	'''Frank''': [[BigNo No!]]
41	* SlummingIt: [[spoiler: Joe pretends to live in a county hospital as part of his "poor person" act]].
42	* VillainousBreakdown: Frank throws a massive tantrum when he [[spoiler: finds out Uncle Joe is broke and can't claim his inheritance. It is so bad, Joe's lawyer has to call security to have him thrown out]].
43	* WhatTheHellHero: Danny's girlfriend gives one of these when she learns just how underhanded Danny has become in trying to win his uncle's favor.
44	* WhamShot: [[spoiler: When Danny tells a bitter Uncle Joe that his money is gone, Joe pulls out his supposedly confiscated hat, which is followed by the shot of Molly and Douglas happily standing outside Danny's home, revealing Joe was putting on an act]].
45	* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler: After finding out Uncle Joe was broke]], Danny is ashamed of himself for stooping to his cousins' level for Uncle Joe's money. Robin, who had left Danny for that reason, consoles him by reminding him of his concern for Uncle Joe when he [[ObfuscatingStupidity fearfully claimed to be losing his mind]]. Danny responds that anyone would have fallen for it. Robin's Response:
46	-->'''Robin''': Even your [[BigScrewedUpFamily cousins]]?

Context Film / Greedy