WHERE THE MONEY IS is a feel-good little movie that affirms life and the movies in the same breath. The film has a plot that is improbable from beginning to end, indeed every turn it takes is less likely than the one before. But with stars like Paul Newman and Linda Fiorentino it doesn't matter a bit. In fact, the simplicity of the plot is indicative of the charm of the movie, taking us back to a simply time, when movies were cumbered with realism, what mattered was that they offered an opportunity to escape.

And 'Where the Money Is" is all about escape. Newman plays a convict named Henry who fakes a stroke in order to be transferred to a nursing home, thinking it will be an easy escape venue. However, his new nurse Carol soon spots his ruse. But she doesn't put him in to the authorities. Instead she enlists Henry to hatch an escape plan of own. An escape from the boredom of her life.

Carol is bored with her life in general, but mostly with the seeming indifference of her husband, Wayne, played by Dermot Mulroney. And deep down, you can sympathize with her. Here's a woman who is oozing ability, you get the feeling she could make Martha Stewart look lazy, except her environment doesn't provide her enough challenge. Bullying Henry into helping her rob a bank seems perfectly reasonable.

Carol choreographs Henry and Wayne in the heist that looks so simple you would laugh, except for the fact that Newman and Fiorentino are so enchanting, that nothing else matters. I loved this movie. I recognize and accept its flaws, but I still love it. Maybe it is because Paul Newman is still drop dead gorgeous, even at 75. When he sits in a darkened bar and looks at Carol with those infamous baby blues, it doesn't matter how old he is, he's still got it. And moments later when he dances with Carol, you get the scent of romance, not a physical attraction between two people, but an abstract admiration of youth and mystery.

And in an age of technology where a product two years old is antiquated, there's something exhilarating about Newman and Fiorentino, who at 75 and 40, light up the screen with a magnetism for life that makes you sigh with contentment.