Review of Mad Money (2008) by Van R — 03 Jan 2009

Diane Keaton hasn't made a really good movie in a long time, and the protagonists that she has been playing lately wallow in the same stereotypical rut. Usually, she plays a mother close to her actual age, and she sports those godawful granny glasses. In short, nothing that she has been in has deviated from the routine. For example, she was a mother in "The Family Stone," "Because I Said So," and "Something's Got to Give." Keaton's last truly great movie was Woody Allen's "Manhattan Melodrama" and before that it was "Annie Hall." "The Little Drummer Girl" provided her with her most off-beat role. Sure, she was okay in "The Godfather," but she wasn't the star attraction. Indeed, she plays yet another mom in "Mad Money," but she tampers more with her image here than she has since the offbeat but disastrous Mafia movie "Plan B." Great idea for a movie, but "Plan B" bombed. "Mad Money" (**** out of ****) finds Keaton teaming up with Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. Talk about casting coup! Who would have thought that these three would gang up in a hysterical comedy crime caper about a trio of dames who steal the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank blind? These three have terrific chemistry together, too.

Poor Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) sees her life going down the drain when her out-of-work husband Don (Ted Danson of CBS-TV's "Becker") cannot find another job. Not only are they $200-thousand dollars in debt, but also they're going to have to sell their sprawling house. Bridget tries to find a job, but she has been out of the workforce far too long. One human resources lady laughs Bridget out the door when she points out how worthless Bridget's English lit degree is. Eventually, our leading lady lands a lowly job as a janitor at a Federal Reserve Bank swabbing out toilets and bagging the trash. The sight of Diane Keaton in rubber gloves and dark coveralls with frizzy hair is a hilarious change of pace for the Oscar-winning actress.

Once she grows accustoms to her surroundings, Bridget notices lapses in the security and masterminds an incredible scheme to steal the old worn-out currency that the Treasury Department destroys and then replaces with crisp, fresh bills. She makes friends with single mom Nina Brewster (Queen Latifah of "Set It Off") who shreds the old money. Mind you, she doesn't shred just George Washington dollar bills. She obliterates $100 dollar bills and on up. They bring in young, ditzy Jackie Truman (Katie Holmes of "Batman Begins"). Bridget discovers that the same type of lock that the Federal Reserve keeps the carts that contain the old money is sold at a local hardware store. She fixes things up so that Jackie can stash the old money in a trash can while she is being watched by the security monitors without giving away any clues. Indeed, our heroines are constantly under pressure about their dastardly doings. Bridget gets it from both Don and Nina, especially after six months elapse and everybody has gotten more than enough money. Nevertheless, Bridget wants to keep on keeping on, and she refuses to listen to calmer minds. She does agree with them that they must keep a low profile. Nina warns them that if they start spending too much then they will arouse the suspicions of their employers. In fact, in one side-splitting scene, Nina confronts Bridget in a restroom, wrenches the rubber glove off Bridget's hand, jerks a $66-thousand dollar ring off her finger, and flushes it without a qualm down the toilet, much to Bridget's chagrin. Furthermore, our heroines must contend with Federal Reserve Security, principally the guards that lust after Nina and the chief of security, Glover (Stephen Root), who lords it over everybody with his scheduled as well as unscheduled security shakedowns.

Director Callie Khouri, best known for her feminist masterpiece "Thelma & Louise," maintains headlong momentum throughout the action. Clocking in at a trim 104 minutes, "Mad Money" never wears out its welcome. Moreover, Khouri isn't half bad at orchestrating a robbery that occurs under the security conscious noses of heavily armed guards and omnipotent surveillance cameras. The first heist generates considerable suspense as our heroines steal the money but later have to negotiate the gauntlet of the routine searches at the doors. They conceal the bucks in their bras, but Jackie stuffs her dough in her panties, with U.S. Grant peeking out of her waist-line as she waits in-line for the inevitable purse inspection. Sure, Jackie hides the money before anybody discovers it, but you wind up laughing your butt off at Bridget and Nina's antics as they struggle to alert her. Eventually, the girls go just too far, and they notice some suspicious people keeping tabs on them. However, to reveal any more about the intricately worked out plot and the white-knuckled suspense scenes that Khouri sprinkles through this lighter-than-helium heist would give away far too much. Sufficient to say, "Mad Money" boasts a deliriously happy ending that will have everybody slapping hands in high five gestures at fade-out.

Interestingly enough, the producers lensed "Mad Money" in Louisiana instead of Kansas, but you wouldn't know otherwise from what transpires in this tall tale. Khouri and scenarist Glenn Gars, who penned the above-average Anthony Hopkins wife-killer movie "Fracture," keep the audience in suspense up to their necks. There is one hell of a surprise ending. Ted Danson is good as Keaton's husband, and Stephen Root steals every scene that he has as Keaton's paranoia chief of security. Ostensibly, "Mad Money" is a remake of "Hot Money," a 2001 British made-for-TV movie. Women who love to see women triumph over men in the end should flock to this movie in droves and have the crime of their lives.