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A laborious, unfunny and implausible heist film. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
After her husband loses his job, upper-crust housewife Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) is forced to take a job as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo. Spotting a weakness in the bank's security system, Bridget convinces her two new friends Nina (Queen Latifah) and Jackie (Katie Holmes) to help her steal a fortune in worn-out bills that have been earmarked for destruction.
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Rating: PG-13 (Language|Brief Drug References|Sexual Material)
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Genre: Comedy
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Original Language: English
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Director: Callie Khouri
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Producer: Jay Cohen, James Acheson, Frank DeMartini, Michael P. Flannigan
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Writer: Glenn Gers
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Release Date (Theaters): wide
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $20.7M
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Overture Films
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Production Co: Big City Pictures, Granada Film Productions, Swingin' Productions, Lightspeed Media
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Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby SRD
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Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)
Cast & Crew
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Critic Reviews for Mad Money
Audience Reviews for Mad Money
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This movie has given me an idea to do something different to sort of spice things up for my reviews. I may not do it with this one, but I've been thinking of the idea of taking one movie per week and doing sort of a truncated review. Like 200-300 words maximum reviews. At first I was thinking 100 words, but I don't think my reviews really even get going until past that point. I'm certain I'm gonna go over the limit that I set for myself, but I think the idea should be minimizing how much I go over the limit. This idea popped into my head because, as opposed to other times, I don't think there's much you can say about this movie. It's not an obscure movie by any means, this isn't Satantango by any means, but it's a largely forgotten, slightly below average late-00s comedy. And what can you really say about largely forgotten, slightly below average late-00s comedies? I mean I guess it's got a relevant plot to the time that it came out in (January 2008) and this was even before the economic collapse just prior to the elections of that same year. It's not like this film really predicted much of anything, given that the economy under Dubya was terrible. Who knew that, in our lifetime, we'd see a Republican president worse than Dubya? And, yet, here we are. Neither here nor there. I guess it really shouldn't surprise me that this film is a remake. There was a point around this era, where everything was a fucking remake. You could make the argument that this is still the case, but I don't think it's as egregious as it was in the past. Notice how I'm actually not saying much about the movie? I noticed it and I'm certain you did as well. I mean, I guess I could say that this movie isn't really that bad. It's certainly nothing home to write about and there's a good reason why this is a forgotten movie, there's just nothing special about this, the heist itself, the comedic elements or the comedy. It's a movie that plays it way too fucking easy. I'm not saying that there was potential here to create a game-changing comedy that would be constantly imitated but never duplicated. But I think it could have been a fairly entertaining little diversion all things considered. There's limitations to the plot, obviously, given that this was meant to be a broader comedy and you can't really get down into the nitty-gritty of the heists themselves without feeling like it was out-of-place considering the characters that inhabit this undercooked world. And I say undercooked as if I expected an MCU-style attempt here. I will say that the movie is always focused on its direction and it doesn't really deviate from that for any needless subplots. I mean, Nina has a subplot of her trying to give her sons a better education by sending them to a private school and her romance with Barry, but I still felt that all of it contributed to the main narrative. And, again, I'm talking as if this were a complex thriller with multiple plot threads, but I'm reaching here, ladies and gents, bear with me. There's some scenes that play really badly in hindsight. Like the guy at the private school treating Nina as if she needed financial aid to enroll her sons in the school and how they don't provide that. I mean, yes, she was struggling financially prior to the heists, but this guy didn't know that. Talk about stupid in hindsight. There's a few other scenes like that and Bridget, in some scenes, comes across as unlikable. She's had a comfortable life, seemingly, for most of her adult life and the moment she actually has to work a regular job, she's already sick and tired of it. Talk about being spoiled. The movie does curb some of Bridget's upper middle-class entitlements but it is there and it doesn't endear you to the character in the slightest. Again, they work on it and they do fix it. Jackie is there just to be the dumbass of the group. And let's just say that Katie Holmes isn't really all that good here. I don't know, it just feels like she's trying way too hard to be stupid. Then again it's not like a constant thing, but there's some scenes where her character is idiotic and Katie just doesn't know how to play the part. Queen Latifah really is the 'heart and soul' of this movie. She's the only one who really has anything to lose if this shit goes wrong, so any frivolous purchases are simply not allowed. I guess they could have done something with this, but it's just brought up in a few conversations and that's really just it. There's nothing much to Nina as a character. Or any of the characters in this movie for that matter. They're all likable enough, I guess, but there's nothing to them. They're walking, talking stereotypes. There's a few entertaining characters, like Bob, who has some of the few legitimately 'funny' moments in the film and Stephen Root as Glover. I don't know what it is about Stephen Root, but I really liked him in this movie. He didn't do anything that contributes to the overall narrative, but I liked his performance. I don't wanna say it's super inspired, but he makes it seem like he's inspired. And that, really, is all you need to do. Just GIVE the appearance that you're giving it your all. The casting is solid enough, in spite of some issues with Katie Holmes, but there's just really not much else to be said about this movie. It's certainly very watchable if you've got 95 or so minutes to kill, but I don't think it's a movie that will stick with you for much longer than a day or two. It's one of those one-and-done flicks. There's weird people all over the world and, now that this review is over, I wonder if this is anyone's favorite movie. Given that I'll post this review on Letterboxd, some Mad Money superfan is probably pissed off at me right now. And send me angry messages berating me. If this is your favorite film, I just have one question for you. Why? Tell me why. I'm not being snarky, I'm hoping for civil discourse here between two movie nerds. I would have failed miserably if I had set a word limit on myself. With that said, nothing to see here, move on with your lives.
jesse o Super Reviewer -
It's very engaging (if you know what I mean). I couldn't take my attention off (you know those tiny breaks you take during movie). Nice.
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It was ok. The premise was a tad silly at times. I mean the fact they can steal that easily from a bank, and then the ending, they all get off that easy too? I mean really? I mean that's where the movie loses me. That's when I start thinking "What a stupid movie". But otherwise, pretty entertaining. Surprisingly I liked Katie Holmes. Thought she was a bit of a scene stealer. And I liked the rest of the cast as well. I think this flick might be good for a night out with the girls, beause it's light and fluffy in that way. But I don't think I will buying this movie anytime soon.
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Well, it was an easy way to kill a couple of hours. Entirely predictable and not very exciting.
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