Even Money (2006)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

One of my all time favorites.

good back-story, and good acting

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Following the lives of three individuals centered around an addiction from which they find no escape. The only thing it gets them is DEEPER! Basinger plays a housewife who hides her gambling addiction from her family, even if it means they think she's having an affair. Whitaker plays the older brother of a college basketball student on the verge of making it big time, only to run the risk of being brought down for shaving points. DeVito is a small time magician with a bit of a gambling problem, himself, while Grammar plays a cop trying to find the killer of a bookie and finds himself on the trail of another bookie who's trying to take over the dead man's action.This film is good! Really! I don't know what else to say about it. The characterizations were right on and the message is there: what a world you live in that will feed you what your disease tells you that you need! It affects all areas of your life: your sanity, your financial situations, your loved ones, your job, and, eventually, if you let it, your life. Unfortunately, there are a lot of bottom-feeders out there who's main reason for living is to give you that "sugar," only to take it away when the time is right (so to speak).I'm not sure if the director and/or the writer were speaking from personal experience, but, speaking as one with his own addiction demons, he/they weren't very far off the mark! 7 out of 10 stars!

I worked in Hollywood when this script made the rounds. (I've now come to my senses and make my living in another field.)I can tell you that it was a fantastic script. Highly ambitious.The reason it is not as good a movie as the screenplay is due to the producer and the director.It's a shame because it should have been a fantastic movie.Trust me when I say that all the stars got attached because of the script. None of them got paid near what they usually make. (The producer is notoriously cheap.)There are some wonderful moments which remain, but when I watched it, I just wanted to get back in the business and remake it as it should have been made the first time!Pity.A lot of things need to come together to make a great film.

Despite its decidedly un-ambitious nature, "Even Money" is a modern film noir melodrama with more story lines and characters than Robert Altman's "Nashville." Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammar, 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. 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.

'Saturday morning early' My wife is still a sleep. I brought my son to his rock band for repetition. Came home around 10 AM. And had all the time in the world to watch the DVD with this movie. Diverse story lines come to a climax. But in this movie the stories are not hard to follow. And the cast seems to enjoy to work in this movie. But if a story is not difficult to follow, does that mean that the movie is bad or not good enough?? Of course not. Why do some people always compare movies with other movies. Even movies that are from the same director or even from the same producers, should be viewed as 'one of a kind'. So when I watched this one, of course some movies like Haven or Crash or...., made all a slip entrance through my mind. But no more than that. This is just a great movie with a even great cast. Great entertainment. And I know, I'm a positive voter (that's because I have great respect for the many of the products we call motion pictures) but that doesn't mean I have no critics on some movies. Of course I have. But if I vote less that 7 point I wouldn't write any comment at all. So to anyone who reads this comment: Go watch this movie.Major Tom