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Casino Jack Stars: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Kelly Preston, Maury Chaykin, Spencer Garrett and Rachelle Lefevre Director: George Hickenlooper Scriptwriter: Norman Snider Composer: Jonathan Goldsmith ATO Pictures Rating: R for language, nudity, violence and themed material Running Length: 109 minutes Casino Jack, (Jack Abramoff) is a popular person. Early in 2010, a documentary by Alex Gibney called Casino Jack ran in theaters, with the real people involved in the political scandal being interviewed. Now, Casino Jack is a feature film starring Kevin Spacey as Jack Abrahoff who never met a person he couldn’t beguile. Barry Pepper (“True Grit”) plays Michael Scanlon, while Kelly Preston is Spacey’s wife and Rachelle Lefevre is Pepper’s girlfriend. Jon Lovitz, in a scene-stealing role, is Adam Kidan who gives the word “gluttony” new meaning. He rolls around like Danny DeVito’s Penguin. Maury Chaykin is Big Tony, a mobster with steely intent. Spencer Garrett plays House Majority Leader Ton DeLay. All in all, Casino Jack surrounded himself with quite a cast, worthy of a movie, which by the way, he actually produced, that being Red Sky with Dolph Lundgren. Jack Abramoff’s job was as a Washington lobbyist. As the film progresses, you wonder just how gullible people can get. The wrong people are in on vital information, spending on material things is sky-high, politicians are on the take and no one is worried that this bubble will deflate? When it finally happens the emotions of surprise are outstanding. Who, me? Kevin Spacey’s Jack is portrayed as a man who wants to do good with all the money he earns (a new school, for example), but to get that money, people are losing theirs. His face is non-descriptive, but you can see the wheels turning in his mind. Greed makes one transparent. Kelly Preston’s take on Abramoff’s wife, Pam, is to believe, absolutely, in everything he does---and choose to ignore the outside fringes of deceit. Barry Pepper, as the business partner, Scanlon, is flamboyant and you just know that when push comes to shove, he is trouble. When people become suspicious, there is always another lie to concoct and keep on going. The main money access was casinos, either Indian or offshore. The 1988 law gave Native Americans the right to have a casino on tribal land. The tribes were interested, at first, when promised political attention to their needs for million-dollar retainers, but soon realize that they had been taken. What does Abramoff do? Go on to the next tribe, as though nothing ever happened and no one would do anything. Oblivious to anyone but himself, he and Scanlon were two of a kind, with Tom Delay a third. I wish the film would have gone into Abramoff’s family life more. We see the effect on his wife when she finally---finally---realizes what is going on. The children are only shown for moments, but you know there had to have been problems for them with the press. Casino Jack shows an almost unbelievable life on top a bubble of so-called success. From cheap labor in the Marianas to casinos on tribal land and offshore. Greed is such a tasty word that people gobble it day after day. It becomes part of their DNA. Have someone sit next to them and a scheme is already hatched. At the end of Casino Jack, you are shaking your head. This goes on every day, everywhere, 24/7, in corporations and governments. Time for a wake-up call. Several of the above-mentioned got prison time. Copyright 2011 Marie Asner
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