Doug Ireland is a concierge at the Bradbury, a luxurious hotel in New York City. Doug is very well-connected and is very good at his job, giving personal attention to guests like Harry Wegman while occasionally pocketing a big tip. Doug's dream is to open his own hotel on Roosevelt Island. He has saved every cent and obtained an option on an old hotel. But he only has a few weeks to begin development and needs at least $3 million immediately to start or the development goes back to the city. Doug's best chance is Christian Hanover, a somewhat unscrupulous billionaire. Christian considers the proposal and asks Doug to "take care" of his mistress, Andy Hart, a perfume saleswoman. Doug spends time with Andy when Christian is neglecting her. Doug learns that Christian is deceiving Andy about getting a divorce. But because his hotel proposal is urgent and Andy is old enough to make her own decisions, he doesn't intervene. However, as he and Andy spend time together, he develops feelings for her. Andy learns that a document Christian has asked Doug to sign was intended to permit the billionaire to take over the hotel project and force Doug out. Christian reveals that an IRS agent who was tailing Doug about the real estate property he bought until he and his lawyers took care of it was actually working with Christian to get the property. Christian smugly tells Andy that the project was going to make a fortune and he wasn't going to share it with a mere concierge. Andy abandons him for Doug, who is chasing after her. After the two reunite at the Queensboro Bridge and reveal to each other about the deception, Doug never signed the document, so Christian can't take over the property. In the end, after Doug and Andy marry, he gets a call from Harry Wegman, who has accidentally been sent Doug's business plan by a senile member of the hotel staff Doug refused to fire and has decided to put up the $3 million that Doug needs.
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 37% based on reviews from 19 critics. Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a two out of four stars and described the film as "the kind of movie where you walk in, sit down, and start thinking this is where you came in." Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune awarded the film a two and a half out of four stars and stated that the film was "a solid setup for a good story, but For Love or Money doesn't have one to tell." It was not a commercial success domestically in North America, earning less than half its production budget before being withdrawn from theatres after just four weeks of release.
