James Marsters

’Spike’ Marsters morphs from spooky to suave

James Marsters makes a savvy choice to begin life after Spike, the iconic goth bloodsucker from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Expanding his repertoire, Marsters ditches his dark persona and morphs from spooky to suave in the lighthearted USA caper film Cool Money, which supposedly has some basis in reality.

Marsters makes a smooth transition as Bobby Comfort, a lifelong thief with a glib tongue, which he uses to scam his way out of his latest skirmish with the justice system. Bobby tells himself he’s going to go straight this time, but even he doesn’t believe it.

No one who knows him does, either. This includes his long-suffering wife Stephanie, who warns that she is on her last nerve with his criminal ways, and Bobby’s former partner in crime Sammy, a personification of the term two-bit hoodlum.

Sammy has been developing another grand scheme, which only Bobby can help him pull off. He wants to raise the stakes from penny-ante jobs to knocking off the safes at New York’s s ritziest hotels. Sammy takes advantage of the knowledge that Bobby has less resistance to a well-conceived criminal scheme than Carrie Bradshaw had to a new line of shoes in a shop window.

Sammy — a hyperactive, engaging turn by John Cassini — actually has thought out his latest idea pretty well. The string of thefts goes off without a hitch. Emboldened by success, Sammy begins to fantasize about a mini-Ocean’s 11 killing on New Year’s Eve. One of the complications is that a job of this magnitude demands additional hands; the more people who become involved, the greater the chance something will go wrong.

The odds against Bobby and Sammy are driven up by an edict from an embarrassed mayor that the crime spree has to stop, no matter what it takes. Among those determined to bust Bobby and Sammy is Bobby’s distant cousin Phil, who has thrown up his hands after numerous attempts to get Bobby to stay clean.

Marsters and Cassini get ample support from Jason Schombing as Phil, Margot Kidder as Bobby’s mother Peggy, who feels her son can do no wrong even when she knows he is, and Robin Brule as Stephanie. Like the stars, everyone seems to be having fun, a contagious feeling likely to infect the audience.

Cool Money isn’t the film Marsters’ most ardent fans have been anticipating; they are pining for a Buffy or Spike revival. However, approached with an open mind and a large bowl of popcorn, it’s an entertaining diversion.

On tv :

Program: Cool Money

Stars: James Marsters, John Cassini, Margot Kidder

Airs: 9 tonight on USA; encores 2 a.m. tonight, 4 p.m. Thursday