Mediocre gambling drama is a pretty weak bet.
Even Money (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:8
Rotten:25
Average Rating:4.1/10
Consensus: Even Money is so obsessed with portraying the ills of gambling it forgets to develop compelling or likable characters.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, violence and brief sexuality
Runtime: 1 hr 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:May 18, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Following in the tradition of such interweaving ensemble dramas as MAGNOLIA, CRASH, and TRAFFIC, EVEN MONEY features an all-star cast set in the world of addiction--to money, power, love, and... Following in the tradition of such interweaving ensemble dramas as MAGNOLIA, CRASH, and TRAFFIC, EVEN MONEY features an all-star cast set in the world of addiction--to money, power, love, and gambling. Kim Basinger stars as Carolyn, a married woman having trouble writing her second book. Although she tells her husband, Tom (a compassionate Ray Liotta), that she is working in a nearby cafe, she is actually spending all her time--and the family money--gambling in a casino, where she is befriended by Walter (Danny DeVito, one of the film's producers), a lowlife magician who wants to recapture his old glory. Walter is desperate for the help of a local crime lord, the mysterious Ivan, but Ivan's right-hand man, the malicious Victor (Tim Roth), merely toys with Walter while coming down hard on Clyde (Forest Whitaker), a plumber who owes Victor a lot of dough. Victor is threatening to kill Clyde unless his brother, Darius (Nick Cannon), a college basketball star, starts shaving points in critical games. Meanwhile, Augie (Jay Mohr) and Murph (Grant Sullivan) are getting into the loan shark business themselves, not quite understanding how dangerous it can be. Looking over all of this is Detective Brunner (Kelsey Grammer), a grizzled old cop reminiscent of Captain Quinlan in Orson Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL. Written by first-time screenwriter Robert Tannen and directed by Mark Rydell (ON GOLDEN POND, THE COWBOYS), EVEN MONEY is a complex drama with a fine cast, with Rydell bringing all the stories together in a wild finale. [More]
Starring: Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Nick Cannon
Starring: Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Nick Cannon, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, Jay Mohr, Tim Roth, Carla Gugino
Director: Mark Rydell
Director: Mark Rydell
Screenwriter: Robert Tannen
Producer: Mark Rydell, Danny DeVito, Bob Yari, David S. Greenhouse
Composer: Dave Grusin
Studio: Yari Film Group
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Reviews for Even Money
Because of the 1985 Ryan O'Neal fiasco, Fever Pitch, Even Money doesn't have the distinction of being the worst film about gambling ever made. Then again, second place is also the first loser.
Shouldn't an overwrought drama about the life-shattering effects of gambling addiction make some effort, before delivering its moral, to show why people gamble in the first place?
Yeah, we know that gambling is bad. That doesn't mean one needs to make, let alone sit through, a poorly conceptualized movie to realize it.
The story is scarcely grounded in the mechanics of real-world expression.
Lady Luck fails to shine on this floundering, cliche-filled cautionary tale.
The kind of strong, intelligent adult drama that was an endangered species in Hollywood until 'Crash'. Overall, it's a winning bet at the movies.
So devoted to sustaining shock and awe that it doesn’t bother to offer clues about the causes and treatment of gambling addiction.
A downer all the way, Even Money makes for dandy entertainment -- the perfect antidote to anything inspired by Hallmark that’s sent our way this year.
Robert Tannen's first-produced screenplay certainly doesn't lack for story -- or clichés, for that matter. Nor does Tannen skimp on trite, predictable plot twists, or well-worn, stock characters in his pedestrian script.
Tethered to the standard multicharacter drama conventions that can be seen most nights on ABC, Even Money hardly delves beneath the surface of its moralistic overview of the sins and ramifications of gambling addiction.
Even Money never quite achieves [Crash's] epic badness -- but Kim Basinger’s mortifying turn as the struggling writer is hysterical in every sense of the word.
Strong character actors (Whitaker, DeVito, Tim Roth) crap out in vet helmer Mark Rydell's middling drama that can't decide if it's a pulpu crime noir or a moralistic piece about the evils of gambiling addiction.
If you're looking for entertainment, save your 10 bucks for the lottery.
This collection of cautionary anecdotes never adds up to much more than the sum of their obvious morals.
To co-opt gambling addiction, which has roots far more complex than 'what we're willing to put on the line,' into the service of such facile moralizing seems tasteless.
most watchers will likely be too depressed to muster much sympathy for Even Money's downtrodden losers.
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May 17, 2007:
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