Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this crime drama revolves around gambling -- those addicted to it, those who enable it, and those who profit from it. The characters lie or act desperately for the sake of a big score or making good on a bad debt. Unpaid bookies and their goons beat men up and even have them killed. There are several violent scenes, especially in the last half hour; characters are shot, poisoned, and more. Plenty of swearing (particularly "f--k") and drinking, and some sex (nothing too graphic, though a sexualized 13-year-old character gets a nipple ring). On the one plus side, the film makes gambling addiction look every bit as serious as drug or alcohol addiction.
Families can talk about the consequences of addiction. Do you consider gambling to be as serious an addiction as one to drugs or alcohol? Why or why not? In most movies, gambling is depicted as glamorous and fun; how is it portrayed here? Which do you think is more realistic?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Sandie Angulo Chen
EVEN MONEY is a multiple-storyline drama a la Crash or an Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film. Except that here, instead of human tragedy connecting all the characters, the glue is gambling -- and it's not a very adhesive one.
The most believable -- and best acted -- of the vignettes follows Clyde Snow (Forest Whitaker, who made this indie drama before he was an Academy Award winner), a down-on-his-luck handyman who desperately asks his college hoops star brother Godfrey (Nick Cannon, who's charming and talented and deserves more roles) to shave points in big games so Clyde can pay back some aggressive bookies (Jay Mohr and Grant Sullivan). The brothers truly love each other, so theirs is a genuinely heartbreaking dilemma.
On the least-believable end of the spectrum is the tale of Carolyn Carver (Kim Basinger, Hollywood mousey in brown hair and glasses), an esteemed novelist who squanders her teenage daughter's college fund at the slots instead of writing her new book. Her husband, Tom (Ray Liotta, who plays against type as an English Lit professor), thinks she's working at Starbucks. Meanwhile, their disturbingly sexualized 13-year-old talks about -- and eventually gets -- a nipple ring.
Unable to shake her habit, Carolyn befriends and becomes in awe of Walter, a has-been casino magician played by Danny DeVito channeling Ricky Jay. DeVito and Carolyn's relationship borders on the romantic after he becomes her lucky charm at blackjack. But in this film, even funny little magic men can't help you beat the dealer when it truly counts.
Eventually the individual story arcs come together in a climactic basketball game that will determine the life and death of various characters, including Victor (an overacted caricature of bloodlust and greed played by the master of such roles, Tim Roth), the megalomaniacal bookie who's been harassing nearly every person in the film.
No one gets a winning hand, of course, but with such flat characterizations (with the exception of Clyde and Godfrey), nobody's worthy of viewers' empathy anyway. Skip it and watch gambling flicks The Cooler or Ocean's Eleven instead.
In addition to the casino movies mentioned above, families who appreciate multi-narrative dramas will like Crash, Babel, and Traffic.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentA few kisses, plus one discreet love scene in which a wife says she's going to pay a visit to her husband's "little friend" before her head disappears below the screen. A very sexualized 13-year-old discusses sex and gets a nipple ring to please a boyfriend. |
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ViolenceSeveral characters are killed: One is shot multiple times in the chest, one is poisoned, another is shot in the head. Clyde is savagely beaten by bookies and their henchmen. Murph spars in the boxing ring. |
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LanguageDouble-digit uses of "f--k" (including one with "mother"). Aside from that, all the usual suspects: "s--t," "bulls--t," "ass," "a--hole." |
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Message |
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Social BehaviorCharacters ruin their own lives -- and those of their loved ones -- for the sake of their gambling addictions or jobs. |
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CommercialismStarbucks, Dell and Apple computers. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCasino, bar, and restaurant scenes feature patrons drinking beer, wine, and/or cocktails. |
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