As Kelsey Grammer says in his 2020 low-budget action movie Money Plane, “Whatever you want to wager on, the money plane has you covered. You want to bet on a dude f*cking an alligator? Money Plane.”
Somehow, John Oliver, on his latest episode of HBO‘s Last Week Tonight, managed to use the film to highlight the absurdity of abortion laws in the U.S.
The British comedian spent the majority of Sunday night’s episode discussing the current situation involving abortion following the Dobbs decision, particularly as it pertains to a number of local elections coming up this week.
How did he connect the dots? The money plane is much like floating abortion clinics, an idea proposed to get round some states’ making abortions illegal.
“Lawless territory, no rules, anything goes. It’s not only a foolproof plan, but it’s also the literal premise for the movie Money Plane. You didn’t hallucinate that during peak COVID. There really was a film about a casino in the sky full of thieves, cartels and arms dealers who can never be arrested because the money plane is always moving in international airspace,” said Oliver.
He continued, “If you haven’t seen it, you should, frankly, stop watching this show right now and go watch that instead. If you pop an edible immediately, it should start to kick in right around when you meet the film’s villain – Darius Emanuel Grouch III, aka “The Rumble”, played by Kelsey Grammer.
“It is the Frasier reboot that we deserved,” he joked.
Money Plane, which was distributed in the U.S. by Quiver Distribution, also starred WWE Superstar Adam “Edge” Copeland, Denise Richards and Thomas Jane. It was directed by Andrew Lawrence, who wrote it with Tim Schaaf and was produced by Taylor & Dodge Entertainment and Dawn’s Light Productions.
Elsewhere on the show, Oliver dinged Business Daddy aka Warner Bros. Discovery for its decision to reboot Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet.
He highlighted comments from Idaho Republican Mark Sauter, who didn’t realize how much impact such abortion laws would have on his constituents. “That’s not a cute little oopsie, it’s not joking that Timothée Chalamet may could play a young Willy Wonka and the studio immediately greenlit and now you have to figure out what the fact that means.”