Those We Love & Hurt
Added 11/24/2008
Director Mark Rydell received his Best Director nomination for "On Golden Pond." "Even Money" is an interesting character-based story that mixes several disparate elements unevenly.
Kim Basinger, who won an Oscar for "L.A. Confidential" in 1997, plays Carolyn. Carolyn is an author who covers her gambling habit to her family by saying how she's writing her new book. Her husband Tom is played by Ray Liotta who won an Emmy in 2005 for TV's "E.R." Tom follows her, only to discover that she's drained their savings. This is one of Liotta's best performances as a sympathetic father & husband who must draw the line. Carolyn takes up with an aging magician, Walter, played by Danny Devito. Walter who is also the Amazing Abraham becomes the subject of Carolyn's next book.
Oscar winner Forest Whitaker who took home gold for The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition) plays Clyde Snow whose gambling problem has made him put pressure on his younger brother Godfrey to throw a basketball game. Godfrey is played by Nick Cannon who was in "Drumline." Whitaker agonizes between his weakness & his love for his brother. Cannon matches the performance, looking up to his older brother even as he resents his intrusion.
Meanwhile, Tim Roth who won a Best Supporting Actor nomination for "Rob Roy" in 1995 plays Victor, a sadistic bookie. Roth takes great delight in inflicting maximum pain. Jay Mohr who was in "Street Kings" this year & has been on TV's "Ghost Whisperer" plays small-time bookie Augie. Augie's partner Murph is played by the good-looking Grant Sullivan. Sullivan finds love with Veronica who is played by Carla Gugino from 2005's "Sin City." Roth wreaks revenge on Augie. This leaves Detective Bruner played by Kelsey Grammer to put the pieces together.
The performances throughout are strong. Forest Whitaker well reflects the bounce between addiction and those we love & hurt. Sullivan & Gugino play well off each other as the small-time hood & his girlfriend. Jay Mohr also makes a strong showing as a bookie with standards. "Even Money" is not an extremely good film, but it is different & gripping, well worth an evening's entertainment. Enjoy!
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Bet against it
Added 3/29/2008
"I'm not perfect! Nobody's perfect!" That's one of the catchphrases of a gambling addict, and it's an ironic one, for a lot of them chase perfection in their chosen field of wagering. They believe in hot dice, cold cards, and working a certain slot in a certain corner of the casino. Some of them double as drug addicts or alcoholics, but all of them have taken their pursuit for a competitive high into that zone of desperation and fevered, last chance bets - the ones that will square them for good, or consign them to terminal poverty. These bliss/doom wagers are the addiction in full bloom. Nothing feels as good as escaping the grasp of ruin to bet another day.
"Even Money," a low-rent B-flick about gamblers, doesn't delve into that much detail. Rather, it's a sleazy, high-level view of a business that has its meat hooks in people and its fingers in a bunch of proverbial community pies. No doubt that's true, but since it's so riddled with cliches and archetypes that went stale after Raymond Chandler died, the movie is more inane than indicting.
Opening with some half-baked monologue from a crippled detective (Kelsey Grammer, ridiculous) about a man's wants in the world, Robert Tannen's screenplay presents a variety of addicts: Novelist Carol (Kim Basinger) is attracted to slots; a plumber named Clyde (Forest Whitaker) asks his basketball-playing brother (Nick Cannon) to shave a few points in an upcoming game; and Walter (Danny DeVito) is a pitiful washed up magician who befriends Carol for reasons never quite established. Throw in a couple small-time bookies (Jay Mohr and Grant Sullivan), a patient, suffering girlfriend (Carla Gugino), and a Eurotrash fixer (Tim Roth), and you've got yourself an ensemble soufflé!
Highlights? Not a ton. Well, Gugino's still beautiful. Ray Liotta stops by, and it's not to play a maniac or a cop, or a maniac cop. He and on-screen wife Basinger have a few good moments. There's some honor in the way Whitaker tackles his character, an antsy, loud type who's not quite as smart as he thinks he is - whose emotions are always a step ahead of his words. But the point-shaving subplot is simply botched - no coach who guesses a player is on the take is going to keep starting him.
Walter worms his way in and out of the movie without any discernible purpose, other than to kick up the pathos a few notches; DeVito can still act, but he's a pure cipher here. Roth borrows James Spader's playbook from "Two Days In The Valley" to no avail. Mohr's his typical, irritating self. Was it his idea to gulp his ulcer-soothing Pepto-Bismol throughout the movie? Couldn't it have at least been a generic brand?
Finally, for reasons unknown, Grammer not only tries on polio as a character trait, but a frog voice from the back of his throat, and giant prosthetic nose and chin. With a khaki trench coat and a pasted-on mustache, he looks and sounds like a Vegas Muppet cop. Where is this guy from? Who gave Grammer, a ham-and-egger if there ever was one, this kind of latitude in a supposedly serious film?
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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"Crash" for the gambling set
Added 3/13/2008
**1/2
Despite its decidedly un-ambitious nature, "Even Money" is a modern film noir melodrama with more storylines and characters than Robert Altman's "Nashville." Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammer, Forest Whitaker, Grant Sullivan, Jay Mohr, and Carla Gugino all play individuals whose only real connection is that they are in some way or another touched by the evils of gambling.
Robert Tannen's overstuffed screenplay wanders all over the map, forcing the actors to spend most of their time just trying to keep up with all the narrative permutations (no need to reiterate them here). The most ludicrous subplot features DeVito as a washed-up magician who contemplates a professional comeback by teaming up with the best-selling author and compulsive gambler played by Basinger. Individually, any of the various plot strands might have made for an interesting movie, but taken together, they just keep getting in each others' way.
Veteran filmmaker Mark Rydell has not only helmed the piece but appears in a crucial cameo role late in the film. Sad to say, he doesn't make much of an impact in either capacity.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Worth Viewing
Added 1/14/2008
Over the weekend, I watched Even Money. It reminded me of Crash in terms of how the movie flowed. There were four or five characters. The film revolved around each of their lives. The common element among them was gambling.
I read some of the reviews before watching the movie. Overall, the movie is worth renting. It is not great, but it is an okay movie.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Somewhat Interesting Storyline
Added 12/17/2007
While I don't consider this a candidate for any movie award, it does have strong performances by Basinger and Liotta. Both give this movie something that Devito could not do, act their roles. I recommend this movie only for their storyline.
I also liked Kelsey Grammer's detective role and makeup. He really appeared to become the character; while Devito was playing the same guy from Deck the Halls.
Watch this when there is nothing else to rent at the video store. However, I think buying it used from the Marketplace is cheaper.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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