Casino Jack

Buy this DVD at Amazon.com

Rating: R

Starring:

Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff

Kelly Preston as Pam Abramoff

Ruth Marshall as Susan Schmidt

Barry Pepper as Michael Scanlon

Jon Lovitz as Adam Kidan

Graham Greene as Bernie Sprague

Hannah Endicott-Douglas as Sarah Abramoff

John Robinson as Federal Agent Patterson

Spencer Garrett as Tom DeLay

John David Whalen as Kevin Ring

Matt Gordon as Bill Jarrell

Jeffrey R. Smith as Grover Norquist

Christian Campbell as Ralph Reed

Eric Schweig as Chief Poncho

Xenia Siamas as Flight Attendant (St. Andrews)

Jeff Pustil as Bob Ney

Rachelle Lefevre as Emily Miller

Paolo Mancini as Scott Gleason

Cindy Dolenc as Female Friend

Nancy Beatty as Enid

Damir Andrei as Manny Rouvelas

Stephen Chambers as Art Dimopoulos

Paul Stephen as Reverend Mueller

David Fraser as Karl Rove

Daniel Kash as Gus Boulis

Mike Petersen as Senator Jarvis

Reid Morgan as Brian

Yannick Bisson as Oscar Carillo

Brent Mendenhall as President Bush

Brian Paul as Senator McCain

David Brandon George as Senator Burman

Timothy Watters as President Clinton

John Hickenlooper as Senator Campbell

Graham Abbey as Simon Bowler

Directed by George Hickenlooper

Special Features:

Casino Jack – A Director’s Photo Diary

Gag Reel

Deleted Scenes

Other Info:

Widescreen (2.35:1)

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Spanish Subtitles

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Synopsis:

The following is the official description of the film:

“Two-time Academy Award® Winner Kevin Spacey delivers a ‘bravura performance’ (The New Yorker) in this ‘uproarious, riveting and wickedly hilarious’ (Elle) film inspired by a true story. Spacey stars as Jack Abramoff, the real-life Washington power player who resorted to jaw-dropping levels of fraud and corruption. High-rolling excess and outrageous escapades are all in a day’s work for Abramoff, as he goes to outrageous lengths to promote the Indian gambling industry, earning him the nickname ‘Casino Jack.’ But when Jack and his womanizing protege Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper) enlist a dimwitted business partner (Jon Lovitz) for an illegal scheme, they find themselves ensnared in a web of greed and murder that explodes into a worldwide scandal.”

“Casino Jack” is rated R for pervasive language, some violence and brief nudity.

The Movie:

The story of “super-lobbyist” Jack Abramoff is the stuff that Hollywood thrives on since to most, it’s unfathomable that someone in Washington, D.C. could have gotten away with what he did before finally being busted. It seems like perfect fodder for George Hickenlooper, who cut his teeth in documentaries and sadly passed away months ago, and you can tell the late director spent a lot of time doing research to get the facts right. Unfortunately, he then diluted those facts with humor in order to try and make a more entertaining film.

This creates a rather strange tone that veers closer towards dark absurdist comedy than drama, and it’s a strange direction to take with this story. Because of that, the entire weight of the film relies heavily on Kevin Spacey’s performance as he portrays Abramoff like a cartoon character spouting his ersatz catchphrase, “I work out every single day,” taking money from Indians while calling them racist terms behind their back. Even when Jack gets fired from his law firm for ethical violations, his ego remains wildly out of control.

Spacey looks and sounds nothing like the real Abramoff, so instead he enhances the character by doing impressions of other movie characters, spouting their famous lines and high-five-ing his similarly douchey partner and friend Mike Scanlon. Barry Pepper’s impressions aren’t quite as good, though that may have been the point that Scanlon was trying to be Abramoff. For the most part, both of their performances are taken ridiculously over the top to try to make the movie funnier. The rest of the cast isn’t bad, although Jon Lovitz is essentially playing the same character he’s always played–no real heavy weightlifting there–and some of the women, like Kelly Preston as Abramoff’s wife, aren’t given much to do even if its Scanlon’s wife who ultimately brings the whole operation down.

In some ways, the results act somewhat like a companion piece to Alex Gibney’s documentary of the similar name although Hickenlooper’s film glosses over or leaves out large chunks of the story, like how Abramoff first got involved with Senator Tom Delay. Instead, it expects the audience to know a lot of the Abramoff story going in, so seeing Gibney’s doc beforehand would probably be a wise idea for those who never followed the story on the news.

Many of the best known political figures like Bush and Rove only appear briefly, not long enough for anyone to bother doing anything near realistic impressions, but one of the film’s laziest moments has the real John McCain on a monitor at Abramoff’s Senate hearing before showing an actor (who looks nothing like McCain) blurred in the background. This Senate hearing may be the last chance for the movie to find its footing, but it’s once again turned into a showcase for Spacey’s scenery-chewing. After repeatedly pleading the 5th Amendment to every query, he then goes off on a Al Pacino level tirade trying to defend all of the crooked things he’s done.

More than anything, this is a story about hubris and how it can lead to one man’s downfall, but Jack is never particularly likeable so it’s hard to imagine people will be able to empathize with him. As much as it’s fun seeing Kevin Spacey let loose and his charisma and personality is always enough to carry any movie, portraying Abramoff as a loveable rogue does a huge disservice to all the people he ripped off.

Regardless of the tonal issues, this is a slick-looking film that looks far better than one might expect for a movie made outside the studio system, though some of the director’s decisions, like having a soundtrack made up of poppy ditties from Manhattan Transfer just increases the lameness factor of the film rather than making it feel hip or current.

“Casino Jack” is decent at times, almost like a Washington D.C. version of “Entourage,” but it certainly could have been better. The sad truth is that as interesting as the Abramoff case may have been, embellishing that story with so much humor makes the film feel more like a political parody than a document of what really happened. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’d probably be better off seeing Gibney’s doc on the subject instead.

The Extras:

This DVD is pretty light on the bonus features. You get an extensive gag reel that shows Spacey clowning around between takes. You also get a batch of deleted scenes. One of the more interesting things about the deleted scenes is seeing just how much they used green screen in the movie. The deleted scenes have unfinished effects so you get a peek behind the curtain in the making of the film. Rounding out the bonus features is a photo slide show of the making of “Casino Jack”. If you want more you’ll have to check out the Blu-ray.

Movie News
Marvel and DC