It's been said that nothing can bring two men closer together than a dollar placed between them, and a large family finds themselves becoming far closer than they'd like over several million dollars in this satiric comedy. Uncle Joe McTeague (
Kirk Douglas) is an elderly man with a multi-million dollar fortune that he made in the scrap metal business and has no immediate heirs. While Joe has no children, he has plenty of relatives, most of whom don't really like him but want to curry his favor in hopes of inheriting his money when he dies (and Uncle Joe is just shrewd enough to know this). However, Uncle Joe has hired a "nurse," Molly Richardson (
Olivia D'Abo), who considers modeling bikinis in Joe's Jacuzzi to be therapeutic. The family is afraid that Molly will end up with the lion's share of Joe's money after they've been bending over backwards to earn his approval, so they bring in a ringer. Daniel McTeague (Michael J. Fox) is one of the only members of the family that Uncle Joe actually likes; a professional bowler of no particular skill, Daniel is the son of the family's black sheep, a leftist activist who decided years ago and wanted nothing to do with Uncle Joe. But Joe has a soft spot for Daniel and his imitation of
Jimmy Durante, so the family tracks him down and has him come to visit his uncle. The idea is that if Daniel can get on Uncle Joe's good side, he'll be rewarded in his will, and then Daniel will share his fortune with the rest of the family. So Daniel and his wife Robin (
Nancy Travis) move to be closer to Uncle Joe, but Daniel soon discovers that he doesn't like his family much more than Uncle Joe does. Greedy also features
Phil Hartman, Ed Begley, Jr.,
Bob Balaban, Jere Burns, and
Kirsten Dunst as some of the venal members of the extended McTeague Family; incidentally, the name "McTeague" is a reference to the lead character in
Erich Von Stroheim's silent epic
Greed. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide