Casino Jack

Movie: Casino Jack

Cast:    Kevin Spacey              (Jack Abramoff)

            Barry Pepper               (Michael Scanlon)

            Kelly Preston              (Pam Abramoff)

            Jon Lovitz                   (Adam Kidan)

            Maury Chaykin           (Big Tony)

Genre: Drama

I saw it on: January 8, 2010

Synopsis: We follow the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff.  He rose to be the most powerful lobbyist in Washington, with Members of Congress literally at his beck and call.  One Indian tribe alone was paying him $1 million per month for his lobbying efforts.  Unfortunately a lot of these efforts never amounted to more than just collecting the money.  Eventually a betrayed woman and an angry tribal leader led to his downfall.

The movie names names and does not pull any punches.  It culminates with Jack before a Senate hearing chaired by John McCain.

My two cents: A pretty good movie.  It serves a good reminder of just how powerful Jack Abramoff was and just how corrupt a lot of Washington big shots were (and are?).  The amounts of money that flowed through Abramoff’s hands is breathtaking.  Two roles that I particularly enjoyed was Jon Lovitz as a really shady business partner of Abramoff and Maury Chaykin playing Big Tony, a mob boss.  There was a lot more humor than I expected in the movie.

Of course, Kevin Spacey dominated any scene he is in.  Energy just seems to flow from him.

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