May 31, 2008
Review - " Mad Money " (on DVD) - By Roland Hansen
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Mad Money
Directed By Callie Khouri
Written by Glen Gers & John Mister
Starring: Diane Keeton, Queen Latifa, Katie Holmes, Ted Danson
Upper middle class housewife Bridget (Diane Keaton), has just gone to
work as a cleaning woman at the Kansas City Federal Reserve, looks
up at a security monitor and sees piles of Money being fed through a
paper shredder, one of the bank's daily rituals, as grungy old bills are
taken out of circulation. Now, that's temptation. If Bridget, toiling as a
custodian after her financial-analyst husband (Ted Danson) was
downsized, can figure out a way to lift that cash, she'll be stealing
money that no longer exists. Talk about an untraceable, and
victimless, crime!


"Mad Money" is a heist comedy that plays alot like "Fun With Dick and Jane". It may be a formula flick, but it does give you a
dose of its heroines' money fever. Bridget’s plan to lift the shreddable loot is ingenious in its relative simplicity, making "Mad
Money" a crime caper that reasonably transcends disbelief. For her plan to work, Bridget needs a couple of accomplices,
played by Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. Now, with a shredder, a "cart girl," and Keaton's janitor, they have all the pieces
needed to appropriate some of that soon to be destroyed loot for their personal recycling. The actresses need all their
charm, though, since the characters they're playing are just about as two dimensional as those paper bills. The closest you
get to caring about a character was with Queen Latifah's Nina Brewster. A single mother, she could use the funds to
provide her children a better future, but is terribly afraid of losing those children if the thieves are caught. Latifah coasts on
grit and verve, and Holmes has a bit of goggle-eyed sweetness, but it's Keaton who rules. She makes Bridget a sneaky
middle class avenger. Of course they get caught because they get too greedy and don't know when to stop. It’s hard to get
behind and root for people who are, after all, little more than common thieves. But admit it …. you'd take that money too.
The cast, headlined by Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes,
would seem to hold a lot of promise. Keaton and Latifah have fine screen
presence, and Holmes' is pretty too look at but bland as a hip-wiggling flake
plugged into her headphones. Overall, the film fails to deliver, though it's not
outright awful, mildly enjoyable at times, not too painful to see, but best
ignored.