Review of Owning Mahowny (2003) by Adam G — 06 Feb 2004

[size=2][color=#0000ff][color=black][size=2][size=2]Ah "the moustache".... Our tragic protagonist in Owning Mahowny is adorned with this great staple of 80's male facial-hair fashion. As first sight, we, the viewing audience, are immediately queued in to the fact that either our hero is potentially gay, or that the story is set in the 1980's. That's not to say all 21st century men with moustaches are gay, but rather, they may simply be unaware of the fact that the decade which brought us Magnum P.I. and all of those heavy metal hair bands has officially ended. Of course, Owning Mahowny begins with a caption stating that the story is set in 1982, but the moustache is there to help provide realism.

Okay, now that today's history lesson is over, let's get to the task at hand. This movie is based on the true story of the largest bank fraud ever committed by one man in Canadian history. Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a low-key and rather conservative fellow, is bestowed with a great amount of trust and respect by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He is so well respected that the bank decides to make him their youngest assistant manager ever. On the outside, Mahowny leads a rather bland life with his girlfriend Belinda (Minnie Driver). He drives a rundown '74 Dodge Dart, wears cheap polyester suits, and doesn't seem to care much for his own personal upkeep. But underneath his drab exterior is an insatiable urge to gamble. When he starts relying on the funds in one of his clients' multimillion dollar accounts to bankroll his habit, he finds himself engulfed in an ever-expanding hole.

[b][i][u]Closing Thoughts on Owning Mahowny[/u]:[/b][/i] A good low-budget flick with another rock-solid performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Watching this movie will make you nervous, even though Mahowny himself never shows the slightest reaction whether he's up big or losing everything. As an aside, I did notice a significant mistake in the film. There was a computerized scoring system in the bowling alley scene (sorry, unlike the now defunct moustache, they didn't have that shit in the early '80's).

[b][i][u]Owning Mahowny Verdict[/u][color=black]:[/color][/i][/b][color=black] 8/10[/color].

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