Five Dollars a Day

Five Dollars a Day
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Nigel Cole
Produced by	Carol Baum Jane Goldenring Kia Jam
Written by	Tippi Dobrofsky Neal H. Dobrofsky
Starring	Christopher Walken Alessandro Nivola Amanda Peet Sharon Stone
Music by	Alex Wurman
Cinematography	Peter Donahue
Editing by	Susan Littenberg
Studio	ThinkFilm
Distributed by	Capitol Films
Release date(s)	April 24th, 2009 (limited)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Five Dollars a Day (also spelled as $5 a Day) is a comedy film directed by Nigel Cole, produced by Capitol Films subsidiary ThinkFilm and starring Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivola, Amanda Peet, and Sharon Stone. The project dates back to 2003 when Nick Cassavetes had signed on to direct, but a year later was replaced by John Curran. Three years later Nigel Cole is sitting in the director's chair.^[1] It premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.^[2]

Plot

Ritchie Flynn Parker (Alessandro Nivola) is a successful, yet quiet man living in Los Angeles, California with his girlfriend (Amanda Peet). He has just been fired from his job as a health inspector when he hears his father, Nat, (Christopher Walken) a thrifty con-man has a brain tumor and that he is going to drive to New Mexico to seek a potential cure. He grudgingly goes to Atlantic City to see his father who then explains he has been living on five dollars a day, going comedically far distances to do so. The odd couple hit the road in a Sweet'n Low car Nat won off the radio, (Nat constantly calls into various radio stations to get free things) and Ritchie calls his girlfriend to tell her about his life and the trip, using cell-phones with free minutes. They wind up in a vacant house that is for sale to spend the night, and narrowly avoid being seen by a realtor and some people looking at the home. They proceed to drive to various cities, once staying at an open house for a retirement village. They then go to Amarillo, Texas where Nat meets with Ritchie's old babysitter, who is now a professional model, who Nat has a thing for. They make it to New Mexico, where Nat begins to think about stopping in Vegas, but by this time Ritchie finds that his dad got him fired by telling his boss of an earlier jail sentence. (Ritchie took the fall to avoid his dad going to jail for one of his crimes). Nat only did so because he wanted to spend time with his son. Ritchie also realizes Nat is not actually his father, but at this time Nat winds up in the hospital, sick. Before Nat dies, he takes him to a shack outside a small lake, where the two swim. Ritchie and his girlfriend are then shown sitting in a boat on the lake, scattering Nat's ashes from a makeshift urn made from a pepsi cup, something Nat got for less than five dollars.

Cast

• Christopher Walken as Nat Parker
• Alessandro Nivola as Ritchie Flynn Parker
• Sharon Stone as Dolores Jones
• Amanda Peet as Maggie
• Peter Coyote as Bert Kruger
• Dean Cain as Rick Carlson

References

1. ^ Five Dollars a Day (2008) - Trivia
2. ^ TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP 2008

External links

• Five Dollars a Day at the Internet Movie Database