$9.99 is a good movie that could have been a great one. Its failures can be at least partially blamed on the stop-motion animation, which works well in some parts of the movie but is a major hindrance in others. I don't think this is the film's biggest problem, however, which is its muddled theme. No one should be surprised when a movie does not actually contain the Meaning of Life, but it's irritating when filmmakers, like those behind $9.99, raise big, philosophical points, toss them around a little, and then throw them out without any sense of conclusion or finality. It is possible that in this they were simply mirroring real life, where such questions rarely have simple (or even complicated) answers. But the film's mood is much too surreal and fantastic to make that kind of strategy work.
 The movie opens with a wonderfully dark sequence where a homeless person asks Jim Peck, the divorced father of two adult sons, for a cigarette and money for a cup of coffee, and reveals that he plans to shoot himself if Jim refuses. The scene crosses from bizarre to surreal when a Seinfeld-ian conclusion to the conversation causes the hobo to make good on his threat. After this, the film's primary focus is on various characters' trials and tribulations—in addition to Jim Peck and his naïve, jobless son Dave, there is a lonely old widower, a super-model inflicting her obsession with smooth surfaces on her lover, a habitually immature man in danger of losing his uptight girlfriend, and a boy trying to save up money so he can buy an action figure.
All of these characters are humanized by a very talented voice cast, which includes veteran Australian actors like Geoffrey Rush, Samuel Johnson and Claudia Karvan. The weight these performances lend to the characters, however, is constantly at odds with the unrealistic, ugly, and often inadvertently frightening stop-motion figures. I'm loath to criticize the film simply because it is unique, and I hasten to add that in some scenes the character designs work to the movie's advantage, making dialogue that would otherwise be over-the-top seem natural. More often, however, the characters are undeniably hideous, to the point that their appearances distract from the scenes. The film's backgrounds are not as off-putting, but we do not often have reason to admire them, either.
The strongest scene in the movie is the opening sequence, but there are several other moments of brilliance. The immature man consistently hallucinates (maybe) two-inch tall college students who come to his house and drink with him. Their exchanges are genuinely funny, even looking past the fact that anything a two-inch tall frat boy says is automatically hilarious. The lonely old widower gets visited by the pissed-off angel of the suicidal hobo, and the two become temporary companions. Dave Peck hopefully sends out $9.99 for a book on the meaning of life (from the publishing company that released such classics as "How To Swim Like a Dolphin"). The young boy gets so attached to the piggy bank he keeps his money in that he refuses to break it in order to buy the much sought-after action figure. The supermodel's boyfriend has his skeleton surgically removed in order to make himself more appealing to her. These varied yet somehow similar searches for happiness have the semblance of a message, but nothing comes of them. The movie ultimately feels aimless, a series of fairly entertaining but pointless vignettes.
Despite that criticism, I can't say I actively disliked the film. On a scene-by-scene basis, it is entertaining. I just wish there was more substance to the whole thing.
 This DVD comes with two short films (by the same director) as extra features. The first of these, "A Buck's Worth," is an extremely crude version of the movie's opening sequence—an interesting step in the film's evolution, but it doesn't count for much on its own without the film's voice performances and more fluid movement. The second short, "Crazy Glue," has nothing to do with the film. It is extremely ugly and rather slight, but its simple story manages to be mildly endearing beyond that.
Ultimately, it's hard to judge whether $9.99 is worth buying. If the plot summary intrigues you, you'd probably at least be moderately entertained by it. If not, I'd advise you to stay away. In either case, I'd at least wait until the title also refers to the retail price.
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