One of the mysteries of life is that great good can result not only from the efforts of caring souls but also from the machinations of self-centered schemers, dreamers, and con men.

In The Big Squeeze, Benny (Peter Dobson), a fast-talking hustler, arrives in a Latino community in Los Angeles. He tries to seduce Tanya (Lara Flynn Boyle) who is working at a bar to support her husband Henry (Luca Bercovici), a former baseball star hobbled by a knee injury. Tanya walks out on Henry when she discovers that he has $130,000 stashed away in the bank from an insurance settlement he never told her about.

Benny comes up with a scam to get her a share of the money; it involves the Spanish mission the devout Henry attends regularly. Meanwhile, Jesse (Danny Nucci), a mild-mannered gardener who secretly loves Tanya, is unwittingly drawn into the scheme.

Writer and director Marcus De Leon has fashioned a clever, fast-moving, and delightfully entertaining morality play that ends with a series of life-changing epiphanies. The message seems to be that God is so thrifty that even morally bankrupt individuals can suddenly find themselves to be miracle workers.