The 1980s were a time when materialism reigned supreme. Madonna sang about being a material girl, and yuppies were on the rise. The materialism of the 1980s is reflected in many of the films from that decade. The most notable is Oliver Stone's Wall Street, but there are a slew of movies whose premise revolves around the idea that money will solve all of your problems, not matter what those problems may be. Risky Business, Coming to America, Trading Places, Rain Man, and Scarface are all other examples of films focused on acquiring money to solve problems, rather than focusing on more human aspects of life like love and friendship. Brewster's Millions is just such a film; ostensibly, the film begins by trying to illustrate the evils of money and the ways it can destroy a person's life, but almost immediately after the scene that establishes this idea, the movie abandons it entirely and falls into another tired, though hilarious, tale about a man chasing a fortune.
