Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

blanche-2 "Casino Jack" is the story of a government scandal, something we've become quite used to in this country. It was George Hickenlooper's last film. I'm not sure if the distribution was limited, but this movie lost money big time, and it didn't cost that much to start. There is also a documentary on this same subject.Kevin Spacey stars as Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist turned criminal, as if what he was doing wasn't criminal enough, though legal. The film also features Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Rachel Lefevre, Kelly Preston, and Maury Chaykin.Abramoff (Spacey), who was staying within legal bounds as a lobbyist, gets greedy and with his business partner Mike Scanlon (Pepper) starts taking exorbitant fees from various Indian tribes supposedly to help them with their casino businesses. Of course, these were rival casinos and besides the fact that he was taking more than the legal limit of money, it was conflict of interest to work for several tribes. Abramoff uses the money to open restaurants, a school for Jewish children, buy a fabulous home, all kinds of things.The idea behind lobbying is that special interest groups - say, an Indian casino, pays a lobbyist who in turn pays congressmen to help smooth the way for the special interest via passage of laws, getting licensing, things of that sort. I don't know, I would call those bribes. Washington calls it lobbying. In one scene, Abramoff flies a bunch of politicos someplace and shows them a good time. We pay for that, by the way.When a front man is needed, Abramoff turns to a mattress salesman (Lovitz) to help make a deal. Major, major trouble is the result. Abramoff ultimately is under investigation, his good friend, Senator Tom Delay, has to resign from the Senate, and the subpoenas start coming.Kevin Spacey is excellent as the confident, charming, aggressive Abramoff, who thinks he has a lot of friends in high places. It's a big performance. Someone commented that they saw Abramoff interviewed and he seemed quite different from Spacey. Well, Abramoff was in prison at the time and I imagine by then he was quite different. Spacey met him and I have to assume picked up some characteristics from him. Barry Pepper is also top notch as the sleazy Mike Scanlon, whose massive infidelities cause a huge problem for both himself and Abramoff.Jon Lovitz I think was miscast. How could anyone think this idiot could make a huge business deal? The character should have at least seemed like he could do a deal of that nature. The way Lovitz played it, no one would take him seriously - and that includes Abramoff.This is a pretty sobering look at how our government is run, and frankly, it sucks. When Abramoff is supposed to testify before a committee, he fantasizes calling the committee a bunch of hypocrites. He was right. To hell with the public interest, where's my money.

ajs-10 I must admit I knew nothing about Jack Abramoff before seeing this film. I'm guessing his story caused quite a scandal in the corridors of power in Washington DC at the time. I have never taken much of an interest in American politics, it seems very complicated to me and this film hasn't really changed my view. It's opened my eyes somewhat, but it only goes to show just how cutthroat a business modern politics is! I will give you my thoughts on this one after a very brief summary.This film tells the very recent story of Jack Abramoff and his associate, Michael Scanlon. They were lobbyists under the Bush administration. Their job was to find companies or organisations that wanted or needed changes in legislation. They would then, for a substantial fee, approach the various politicians they needed to get the job done. The wheels were often greased with large donations to re-election campaigns or similar. All of what I've said so far is, I believe, perfectly legal. The film tells us about their dealings with various Native American tribes and how they defrauded them out of large amounts of money in order to secure gambling rights. There is more to tell, but I'd better leave it there or the Spoiler Police will be charging me with misconduct.Although I found the film a little hard to follow I did enjoy the performances or both Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff and Barry Pepper as Michael Scanlon. As I've already said, US politics is not a beast I usually confront and I'd like to say that this film convinced me otherwise, but sadly it didn't. I found most of the characters quite despicable (no real surprise there though) and the way they go about their business quite deplorable. The film itself is pretty well made and the plot does make sense after a while, after several of the threads begin to pull together. I can't exactly say it had me gripped, but it was quite well made and Kevin Spacey did a pretty good job in the leading role. Sadly it's not one I'd recommend unless you're really into American politics, or really have to see all of Kevin Spacey's films.My Score: 5.4/10.IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 6,457 votes at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes Score: 36/100 (based on 90 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Gin-ster Informative, stacks up reasonably well against published facts, and it is absorbing as a story. Some of the casting is "apt," while some is not exactly on-target (Norquist in particular, and Ambramoff too - Greg Kinnear would've been more on-target as far as appearance) but this is not the main problem as Spacey's acting is, as usual, excellent. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something cartoonish about the portrayals that got in the way of my saying it's an "excellent" film even though I have no doubt the people portrayed are, in real life, the sleazebags that they are shown to be. There is some attempt at nuance as we are asked to consider the possibility that Jack Abramoff is a conflicted figure as he believes in family, faith and country and the idea that the Bush (and right wing) are best for America, but it is not clear how he can also readily embrace basic criminal acts. Another credibility-stretching aspect was his (and Scanlon's) foolishness with money. They are shown to be "sharp cookies" in business dealings on the one hand yet unable to control their wish to spend money they don't yet have on more and more extravagant possessions. So this doesn't add up either. Again, I am not denying that these things may well have taken place but they are not rendered "credible" in the film and instead the key characters (Abramoff, Scanlon) come across as irrational above all.

Tony Heck How long can you screw someone before you get caught? The true story of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Spacy) and his partner Michael Scanlon (Pepper). After finding a contribution loophole, Abramoff and Scanlon begin to exploit this and become very, very rich. I enjoyed this movie. I like true story movies, and I really enjoy political ones too. There was a lot of stuff in here I didn't know about. The amount he took and the favors he gave out are astounding. This movie really exposes the lengths that he and other senators will go to in order to get what they want. The movie is filled with different movie quotes from the "Godfather", "Rocky" and others, which is fun (Spacy is a pretty good impressionist). Overall I really liked this movie, and found myself liking Abramoff even less then before. The amount of money he through around to get his way is enough to make you sick, especially when you think a lot of our tax money went to helping him by a casino boat. Abramoff gets an F, as for the movie, I give it a B+.Would I watch again? - Yes I would, this is the kind of movie I like