Feb 13, 20182 min read

Get Rich or Try Dying short film

Directed by Fred Cavender

Starring Dan Rock, Eve Bernier and Deborah Dawson

Short Film Review by Rachel Pullen

What goes around comes around, and not in the way Justin Timberlake wants us to believe, more in the way of trends, be it from fashion to art, to movie styles....and at the moment film is all about the 80’s. Ergh the 80’s. Bad music. bad hair, bad clothes....good horror films though. I don’t get it, I don’t get why we are in this renaissance of such an ugly period of time, but hey that’s just me, but you would have to live under a rock to not have noticed the surge of 80’s styles films and TV shows out there, from Stranger Things...another thing I don’t get the hype about, to movies like IT, we cannot get away from it.

So here you have another one to add to the ever growing list, Get Rich or Try Dying, an 80’s style sci fi comedy about a scientist who steals pills from the laboratory he works in that help him travel through time.

Now like most people who have suddenly discovered the ability to time travel, you’re clearly going to fix the lottery, or gamble to benefit yourself, and that’s just what our leading man does and soon he becomes richer than his wildest dreams.

This short, like I said, takes a lot of style and music choices from the 80’s, yet the characters and locations are not, which, don’t get me wrong I didn’t mind, but it does draw in some questions about continuity. Style is important to encompass throughout to create theme, a running style that locks us in to the sense of an atmosphere of the film. So is it a ballsy move on director Fred Cavender’s behalf? Or did they just not have the budget for a whole truck load of Bill Cosby jumpers?

Despite this Get Rich or Try Dying delivers an interesting journey which engages the viewer well, the story is fun and campy, the comedy is not laugh out loud but is enough to ensure the light-hearted nature of this short is consistent and delivered in a well-timed manner, in essence this movie covers the bases well enough.

That’s the thing, there is nothing that you would remember about Get Rich or Try Dying, nothing that’s going to make you come back and watch it again and again, which is a shame since the direction, the style and the delivery of this piece is clean and crisp and clearly professional. I can only hope that Cavender delivers something which gains more attention and keeps it in the future of his career.

You can watch this short film for free as it is on the UK Film Channel. Enjoy the full movie below...