Mad Money | Ted Danson, Queen Latifah | A different sort of film

Mad Money | Ted Danson, Queen Latifah | Stealing Home

DVDs:

Mad Money

	Mad Money Ted Danson, Queen Latifah Anchor Bay - ITN, 2008 average customer review:based on 73 reviews view larger image
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Academy Award® winner Diane Keaton Academy Award® nominee Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes are all in for the crime of their lives! Deep inside the most secure bank in America three desperate women from very different worlds cook up the most unlikely heist of the century: Smuggle out millions of dollars in worn-out currency headed for a Federal Reserve shredder every day. Taking the cash is going to be easy but getting away with it will be insane! Ted Danson Christopher McDonald (HAPPY GILMORE) Roger Cross (24) and Stephen Root (OFFICE SPACE) co-star in this wild comedy caper from the creator of THELMA & LOUISE about chasing your dreams beating the system and paying the price for MAD MONEY!System Requirements:Running Time: 104 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF ERRORS Rating: PG-13 UPC: 013138000095 Manufacturer No: DV80000

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A different sort of film

This is a rare movie, where some of our favorite actors are involved in less than desired activities, and yet we found ourselves rooting for them. The movie is about three women in difficult situations, needing money and a change of perspective for their families.

Ted Danson delivers a great performance as the unemployed husband of Bridget, who not only lost his highly paid executive job, but is now depressed and confronting reality for at his age, he no longer feels confident enough to start again.

The three women work at what looks like Fort Knox, where money is disposed off by banks because it becomes too old to circulate. They simply shred millions every day. To support her family, Bridget, played by Diane Keaton, comes up with a rather ingenious plot that is both fun and believable.

In order to be successful in her plan to steal lots of money, Bridget enlists others. Nina, played by Queen Latifah, and Jackie, superbly played by Katie Holmes, become the other two in this trio of thieves. We found ourselves laughing, enjoying the suspense, and hoping that they get away with their creative money recycling business.

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Stealing Home

*Some Spoilers*

"Mad Money" is what "Fun With Dick and Jane" might have been had it actually been FUN. This tale of three virtuous women who turn to a life of crime emerges as one of the better screwball comedies of recent vintage, thanks to a clever, snappy script by Glenn Kers, lively direction by Callie Khouri, and mega-delightful performances by Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Ted Danson, Adam Rothenberg and Stephen Root.

Keaton, who has rarely been better, plays Bridget Cardigan, an upper-middle class housewife whose husband (Danson) is suddenly laid off as a result of corporate downsizing. When she lands a job as janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, she devises a scheme to steal some of the cash that has already been earmarked for destruction. To accomplish her goal, she enlists the aid of two of the women who work there (Latifah and Holmes) who are also having trouble making ends meet.

Out of this rather dubious premise, the filmmakers have spun pure comic gold, providing us with one hilarious scene after another as the women go from law-abiding citizens to master thieves to incarcerated suspects in the course of the story. There are subtle little jabs at consumerism and the lure of the American dream along the way, but this is primarily a sharp, witty and sublimely silly spoof on all those innumerable heist pictures that have come our way over the years (I suggest we simply think of this as "Ocean`s 14" and have done with it). Khouri never lets up on the pace, and the sheer joy the actors take in playing these roles spills off the screen and onto the audience.

The denouement could probably stand a little tweaking, but for once, a "feel-good movie" actually lives up to that title.

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star power barely carries weak plot

This movie just didn't keep me. The star power alone carried the weak, difficult to believe plot. IMO the purpose of a "heist movie" (like ocean's 11) is to make you think that you really could do something like that and get away with it, this movie didn't pull that off. I never got used to seeing Diane Lane in a janitor's jumpsuit. Katie Holmes was plays a looney tune, probably the only type of character that she would be good at nowadays. There is no moral to the story. No "come to Jesus" moment at the end. Instead you're left with the feeling that if you can steal from the government, everything's gravy. Not terrible, but worth a little less than face value.

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It's not a loser, but it isn't breaking any new ground either.

Intentional or not, this crime caper film has an air of immediacy to it as it deals with issues arising from our current state of (shhhh!) recession. Opening with the layoff and subsequent depression of newly unemployed Don Cardigan (Ted Danson), we see the turmoil of a middle-aged couple having to come to grips with suddenly not being able to maintain their status of living. As such, Bridget Cardigan (Diana Keaton) decides she will need to join the workforce for the first time in her life. The opening segments of the film setting this up and showing her series of job interviews immediately draws you in. We are quickly on Keaton's side as she struggles to find a place to just make a buck or two!

Finally she lands a job at the Federal Reserve as a janitor. Not so glorious - but before long she begins to wonder about all that money around her! She soon learns about the daily destruction of inactive money, and hatches a scheme to steal it. In her mind, the money is going to be destroyed anyway, so it "technically" isn't stealing - it's just removing something from the trash! That little moral issue aside, she begins looking for accomplices, which ultimately leads to Nina Brewster (Latifah) and Jackie Truman (Holmes). The three figure out a way to lift the money right out from under the noses of their employers. All this leading up to the first heist is intriguing and enjoyable to watch.

The problem, however, is that this first heist occurs midway through the film, and once it has come and gone, the screenwriters suddenly seem out of ideas. The second half of the film basically just bides it's time with the girls repeatedly pulling off the heist until it reaches the 90- minute mark. I found myself preparing for any number of certain twists and turns, but none of these ever came. The second half of the film plays out by the numbers and ends on a less than thrilling note. In the end, what's on the screen is fine, but it's what is missing that could have been so much more!

Performances are largely on track. Keaton's usual lovable yet slightly neurotic style is in full force - Latifah continues to find roles that let her play wise and likable - and Holmes is essentially the airhead of the troupe. Danson is mainly a side character here. Yet even with a female led cast, the film never quite feels like a simple chick-flick or made for Lifetime movie - I'll give it that. But in the end, it was missing a certain attitude or bite that made director Callie Khouri's screenplay for THELMA AND LOUISE so memorable.

Bottom Line: You won't hate yourself for watching it, but you will quickly forget about it once it is over.

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Mad Money a Mad Cap Comedy

What hppens when a desperate housewive, struggling with an unemployed husband, mounting bills, and imminent foreclosure, gets a new job? What if that job was at a federal reserve bank where faded and worn bank notes are destroyed?

Mad Money employs such a scenario. In addition there is the aspect of an overly confident manager who is so sure his security is drum tight that no one could possibly sneak money out of his facility.

Diane Keaton plays the housewife with an unemployed husband (Ted Danson) who gets a job at the federal reserve. There she meets the struggling single mom (played by Queen Latifah) and the young druggie (played by Katie Holmes--I hope th Scintologists approved). Together they concoct a plan to sneak money out despite the security efforts (random body checks, special keys and locks that should only be opened in the presence of guards, etc.) Of course there are tense moments, such as snap inspections by the manager. And when a security guard gets suspicious, soon he's part of the gang.

But the druggie's boyfriend starts investing huge sums of money and the feds are on their case. If one person talks, they all go down--all except the one who should talk and get an easier sentence. So, who talks? Will the feds get their criminals? Or will an ego let the gang go free?

This movie captures the spirit of the Americam psyche that cheered John Dillinger on during the Depression, that sense that powerful forces are keeping the small people down and they have found a way to get even. It is a humorous and light-hearted comedy. No, it won't win any Academy Awards, but it will let you chuckle watching it some night.

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