Review of Even Money (2007) by Brad G — 13 Sep 2007

You'd never advise a filmmaker to aim lower, but isn't it tragic when a movie aims really high and misses badly.

Don't know if I can put a finger on all the reasons for it, but this ambitious movie with a cast made impressive by the quantity of known-names rather than the calibre of the individual actors, ends up a 'B' drama without any real teeth.

I do respect the attempt however, and the subject matter is under-explored in cinema.

But here's the list of issues, and I'll warn you, it's lengthy.

-I think Grammar thought he was stretching by donning a prosthetic nose and playing gruff, but he just sounds to me like an over-privileged radio host from Seattle who used to hang out in a Boston bar.

-Ray Liotta is terrible in this, which should come as no surprise, because he's terrible in everything.

-For comments on Kim Basinger see my comments on Ray Liotta, and think "ditto".

-I'm becoming convinced that all the praise of Forest Whitaker is unfounded and that he's just a flagrant over-actor.

-Danny Devito was wrong for the part. (SPOILER) No character who commits suicide at the end of picture should be portrayed with such levity throughout it without some hint of melancholy beneath the surface.

-Downward spiral movies get on my nerves. They're depressing and they're a cheap and easy way of giving your film weight. Just show your main character (or characters, in this case) sink into despair and ruin their lives and you've got a picture that seems so "serious".

-I didn't care about any of the characters enough (a function of bad acting) to really feel badly for them when their addictions eventually got the best of them. I felt uninvested throughout the movie, like it was just going through the motions.

As I was writing this I was going to say that I hoped the director, Mark Rydell, gets another shot, but next time tells a smaller story and focuses his efforts. I assumed from watching the movie that he was some young up-and-comer. I was going going to say that I imagined that juggling a cast as big and a topic as severe as these must be a challenge, and that maybe, with experience and a smaller project he could do better next time.

Turns out he's 73 years old and has directed a tonne of stuff, including 10 episodes of Gunsmoke.