Summary
Money Trap is the typical case of ‘close, but no cigar’ for the Turkish Netflix Film, as it fails to ignite any excitement for the audience despite a promising premise.
When you read the premise for Netflix Turkish film Money Trap, you’d expect a high-fuelled action-comedy, but for the 2-hour running time, it tends to fill the space with irrelevant plot points that do not pertain to the movie at all. The story is the following: when Asim Noyan’s (Yilmaz Erdogan) daughter and son-in-law fall for a ridiculous terrorist plot scam, he meets his match and, being a con-artist himself, has to battle with the empire of an underground gambling world. There is also another side story, involving a son and father business; they also get conned, and they seek revenge.
Money Trap is all about gauging how to get their money back and gaining vengeance on those who conned them in the first place. The Netflix film is sold as a comedy, and there are amusing moments, but it does slip into nonsense gags, and because it veers off into some stories that have no link to the central premise, you sometimes forget that it is meant to make you laugh.
It devotes a lot of energy to Nazli Noyan (Bensu Soral) and her relationship with her father, which is tainted by her lack of interest in his money-making schemes. You sense that between the characters there is a question of morality, and you feel the reluctance and disappointment when Nazli has to seek help from her father, due to her principled soon-to-be-husband (Atakan Çelik) falling for a scam phone call. Money Trap seems to benefit more from their relationship than the objective of the film itself, which is to overcome the con.
I cannot say I enjoyed Money Trap; I was doubtful before I pressed play, and suspected the length would outstretch the meaning of the story, and it does. The characters are undeniably fun to watch, but it edges too far towards a lack of originality, with the dialogue somewhat predictable, serving no reason to care. The moments we are faced with the kingpin of the underground gambling world are likely to amuse you for the most, as the actor Kivanç Tatlitug does a superb job in placing satire in his “evil villain” aura.
The Turkish Netflix content is racking up on the platform, but Money Trap is confidently a dry dud.
