Mister Cash

Canadian movies- especially those made with taxpayers' dollars- have always bored me. But "Owning Mahowny" broke the mold, and is a mesmerizing exception to the rule. I am amazed this film did not meet with more popular success, given the critical acclaim it received.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the bland and somewhat shabby banker who embezzled 10 million to support his gambling addiction is spot on. I can say this with some authority since I knew "Mahowny" personally back in high school, where his predilection for the racetrack and for fleecing junior students at cards was legendary. The seedy clothes, the clunker car, and the repressed demeanor all ring true. Kudos to Hoffman for a riveting performance.

Gambling movies (The Cincinnati Kid, The Hustler) have by and large ignored the addiction angle. This film delivers- in spades.

"Owning Mahoney" tells of a bank account manager and pathological gambler who lives from one wager to the next on a collision course with oblivion. A powerful and compelling tour de force by Hoffman - who once again proves he ranks among the actor's actors with the likes of Brando, Pacino, and Nicholson - this engrossing film claims to be a true story of a man, money, and an obsession of remarkable proportions. A worthwhile watch for Hoffman fans and anyone into character studies, particularly of obsessive-compulsive types. All others stay away. (A-)

`Some folks believe that everyone has a public life, a private life and a secret life.'

These are the opening words of `Owning Mahowny,' a fascinating real-life tale of a compulsive gambler whose life falls to pieces when he begins embezzling funds from the bank where he works in order to feed his obsession. Dan Mahowny's `secret life' became public in the early 1980's when he was finally arrested and convicted on charges of bank theft. Philip Seymour Hoffman, who has made a career out of playing sad sack, tormented souls, gives one of his richest performances to date as Mahowny, a mild-mannered man caught in the grip of that compulsive sickness known as gambling addiction. Minnie Driver plays his devoted girlfriend who loves Dan dearly but who cannot bear to stand by and watch helplessly as he slowly but inexorably destroys his life.

If the film were only about Mahowny's gambling problem, it would be no different from countless TV movies made on the same subject. What sets this film apart is the way in which writer Maurice Chauvet (working off the original novel by Gary Stephen Ross) and director Richard Kwietniowski make the background of the story as compelling as the foreground. The astute, observant script focuses as much on the ins and outs of the casino and gambling worlds as it does on the personal travails of its main character. Particularly intriguing is the way in which high rollers are followed and coddled by the casino owners using both high tech equipment like cameras and monitors as well as plain old-fashioned flattery, obsequiousness and deceit. John Hurt, in a brilliant performance, plays a smarmy casino operator in Atlantic City who will stop at nothing to make Mahowny feel at home in his establishment – all for the purpose of having his new found `friend' gamble away a fortune at his tables, of course. The film is, in fact, filled with interesting side characters, including a sympathetic bellhop, who befriends Dan and who tries to convince him to leave the casino he happens to work for; several of the petty loan sharks with whom Dan finds himself inextricably connected; and a whole host of law enforcement officials whose job it is to bring Dan in on grand theft felony charges.

The filmmakers have taken a laid back, subtle approach to their material. They allow the story to develop slowly, offering us the chance to get to know Mahowny and his world at an unhurried, leisurely pace. Since Mahowny is, himself, such a secretive, quiet character, it is appropriate that the film that bears his name should also reflect that quality of muted sadness in its pacing and tone. Towards the end, however, once the authorities begin moving in for the kill and we sense the inevitable grip of Fate tightening around this strangely likable character, the film becomes both highly suspenseful and immensely moving at one and the same time. What's fascinating is that we are always one step ahead of Mahowny in our understanding of what is about to befall him. As in all great tragedies, it is the Cassandra-like burden placed on the audience – that of being able to see the future with no hope of doing anything to prevent it – that gives the film its air of pervasive sadness.

`Owning Mahowny' is a beautifully written, directed and acted film that opens up for us a strange and fascinating world.

I'm not sure that it was a fantastic movie, but it really sticks with me. I gamble quite a bit too, and I regularly see Mahoney-like behaviours at the casino. The guy next to me the other day started with $200, then went up, in my eyes undeservingly, to about $2500, and finally lost it all in a matter of half an hour. The entire time completely without expression, like a gambler, like Mahoney. No matter what happens to a gambler in the short term, he knows that it is ephemeral. Unfortunately, the ephemeral losses are a bit bigger than the ephemeral wins, and the cumulative loss is what you are stuck with in the end.

I liked the way that Mahoney was so boring. As though the things that make life interesting for the average person and the things that make the average person interesting all pale in his eyes to the passionate communion that he has with the game.

Interesting examination of a young Canadian bank executive who embezzles money to feed an insatiable gambling addiction.

Hoffman gives a yeoman's if not overly subdued performance as Dan Mahowny, and the film for the most part is a better than average watch. Strangely, the film plops you right into chapter 5 or thereabouts, and your left wondering who is this guy for the entire film. The motivation for Mahowny's odd behavior is never really broached. The film starts with Mahowny sports betting and playing for the usual small stakes, he then mysteriously falls off a cliff in his wagering amounts and we're supposed to swallow that it all stemmed off of a 10000 obligation? Then we're off to the races as he becomes this casino legend. Needed a little more development, and thats being kind.

The direction is clever, in particular the ironic use of scenes showing the symbiotic relationship of bank and casino. On the nay side, the small budget generates the expected technical issues, most glaringly, never once providing camera-work that remotely convinces you he's in either Vegas or Atlantic City. The casino interior shots aren't properly done to eliminate the claustrophobic soundstagitis, and the only exterior shots found in the entire movie, are blatantly in Canada. As example, there is a scene where Mahowny is contemplating life while standing on the beach of the Atlantic Ocean. Its so obviously a lake or even pond and not the ocean, that its borderline embarrassing. Finally John Hurt, who i really like, is given liberty to really ham it overboard. But believe it or not, I genuinely like this film, and do recommend it.

PS/ I don't care that what anyone says, the woman who hits him up for 100 bux in the casino is Sandra Oh.