With a cast including the likes of Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton, Ted Danson, Katie Holmes and other mainstays of talent, you'd think "Mad Money" had a fighting chance of pulling in the audience and the positive words of praise would surely follow. Serves me right for thinking.
Don (Ted Danson) lost his job a year ago, so his wife Bridget (Diane Keaton) steps out of her socialite lifestyle and gets a job (yea, right) at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank as a janitor (double yeah, right). Despite the couple being nearly $300,000 in debt, she's not getting the job for the money -- they need the medical benefits. Um... let's just go with that one.
Frustrated at her lowly station in life given her past social status, Bridget starts to plot how to rip off some of the millions of "worn-out" money the bank shreds every day. Being a clever woman, she quickly formulates a complex plan of stashing money inside clothing and pockets, to walk out. (Apparently no one would notice in this secure government facility responsible for managing paper money.) Bridget gets the help of single-mom Nina (Queen Latifah) ding-bat trailer park girl Jackie to help them. In the first day of their efforts, they walk out with $36,000 in cash... mostly $1s, and no one is any the wiser.
I regret to say it doesn't get any better, more clever, or better acted than this trite attempt at a plot. I am both surprised that these big names took on this project, and that the director didn't think it wise to serve them a stronger script. Or for that matter this was the handiwork of writer Glenn Gers, who worked on "Fracture" from last year with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling.
Any of these roles could have been presented by any C-list actor (normally found in low budget slasher films), and it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. Latifah and Keaton have both had their names on the list for Oscar considerations, and Keaton one won... and they still couldn't save the patient from a slow death.
And we all had to witness it. Does that make us an accomplice in the plot's slow death? Possibly. Avoid the drama, and steer clear of this crime scene.
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