'Mad Money' not rich despite big names
Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes play likable characters in the forgettable film.
By Philip Booth, Special to the Times
Published January 17, 2008
Mad Money
Grade: C+
Director: Callie Khouri
Cast: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes, Ted Danson, Stephen Root
Screenplay: Glenn Gers, John Mister, Neil McKay, Terry Winsor
Rating: PG-13; sexual references, drug references
Running time: 104 min.
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Going green has never been as fiscally responsible or as morally irresponsible as it is in Mad Money, a middling comedy that benefits from winning turns by its trio of stars playing likable, sympathetic characters.
With a little luck, the heist movie from Callie Khouri director/writer of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and writer of Thelma & Louise will find its box office niche among viewers looking for an alternative to the critically acclaimed, dark-themed fare dominating screens (There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd).
The tree-saving initiative afoot in Khouri's film takes place at the highly secure Federal Reserve Bank in Denver, where three employees from disparate backgrounds collaborate on a plan to help rid the place of old, worn-out bills that otherwise would be destroyed. Why trash perfectly useful cash when it can go to a good home and eventually recirculate? "It's more like recycling" than like stealing, explains Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton), whose name is shorthand for the privileged lifestyle she has enjoyed.
Bridget is on the verge of losing her home, cars, jewelry, shoes and everything else when her husband, Don (Ted Danson, back to bland after his fierce work in TV's Damages), loses his job. With no other prospects in sight, she begins working as a janitor at the bank, where she enlists struggling single mom Nina (Queen Latifah) and ditsy 20-something Jackie (Katie Holmes) in a plan to grab the doomed cash.
So is Mad Money a pop-culture signpost of a coming recession, suggesting that high crime is the only way to get ahead in a suffering economy? Maybe.
If nothing else, Khouri and/or her screenwriters endow the characters with a bit of honesty about the conspicuous consumption that typically scales back during hard times: "I don't want what I can't have," Nina says, explaining her reluctance to take the cash. Asks Bridget: "Do you live in America?"
Philip Booth is a Tampa writer specializing in music and movies. He may be reached at jphilipbooth@gmail.com.