Casino Jack

Name: Casino Jack
Genre: Thriller
Released: December 17, 2010
Rating: 51
Cast: Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Spacey

2010

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Mixed or average reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

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5.1	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

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Casino Jack

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Movie Details & Credits

ATO Pictures | Release Date: December 17, 2010 | R

Starring: Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Spacey

Summary: Inspired by true events that are too over-the-top for even the wildest imaginations to conjure, CASINO JACK lays bare the wild excesses and escapades of Jack Abramoff. Aided by his business partner Michael Scanlon, Jack parlays his clout over some of the world’s most powerful men with the goal of creating a personal empire of wealth andInspired by true events that are too over-the-top for even the wildest imaginations to conjure, CASINO JACK lays bare the wild excesses and escapades of Jack Abramoff. Aided by his business partner Michael Scanlon, Jack parlays his clout over some of the world’s most powerful men with the goal of creating a personal empire of wealth and influence. When the two enlist a mob-connected buddy to help with one of their illegal schemes, they soon find themselves in over their heads, entrenched in a world of mafia assassins, murder and a scandal that spins so out of control that it makes worldwide headlines.(ATO Pictures)… Expand

Director: George Hickenlooper

Genre(s): Thriller

Rating: R

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Critic Reviews

J.R. Jones

Dec 30, 2010

Though Casino Jack never lets its protagonist off the hook for his misdeeds, it does underline the hypocrisy of those politicians who were content to take his money but then ran for cover in February 2004 when the Washington Post began to expose his fleecing of six different Indian tribes. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

Dec 17, 2010

One of the highlights of Casino Jack is Abramoff doing dead-on impressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, among others. Read full review

Kate Taylor

Jan 28, 2011

The facts really get in the way of the portrait here, and we are left hungry for more Spacey and more insight into a man with the hubris to wonder if he has disappointed God. Read full review

Betsy Sharkey

Dec 16, 2010

Though the film is peppered with one-liners tailor-made for Spacey to sling with stinging effect, it doesn't so much leave you laughing as just weary, and wishing this weren't a true story at all. Read full review

Kimberley Jones

Jan 6, 2011

Despite his character's fondness for mugging and mouthing like Michael Corleone, Spacey (and by extension, his director and writer Norman Snider) can't quite catch the operatic wallop of Corleone's arc, possibly because the film is played top-to-bottom like a caprice. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

Jan 6, 2011

Casino Jack fails at its most critical mission: Laying out in clear detail exactly how and when Abramoff broke the law. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

Dec 22, 2010

That's the problem with the whole movie, which lies halfway between poker-face documentary and broad farce. Read full review

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User Reviews

Powerslave77

Jan 2, 2011

One of the best films I saw in 2010. Abramoff is a fascinating figure who was too smart and well connected to be dismissed as some vogue miscreant. Kevin Spacey does a tremendous job with the character, and while the audience and the broader public may never truly understand the man, thisOne of the best films I saw in 2010. Abramoff is a fascinating figure who was too smart and well connected to be dismissed as some vogue miscreant. Kevin Spacey does a tremendous job with the character, and while the audience and the broader public may never truly understand the man, this movie successfully draws the viewer into his world. The story of Abramoff is a powerful reminder of the institutionalized sleaze at the highest levels of government, and Hickenlooper is unrelenting in exposing this underbelly.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Giulius

Jan 1, 2011

Igonore the mixed reviews and go see this flm. It is a stunner. Great story and terrific performances. Just be prepared to pay attention - it's definitely not a "sit back and let your mind go" popcorn flick.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

katzmandu

Dec 24, 2010

Fun show if divorced from reality. In reality, a reminder of the corruption and who really controls our government. I think Kevin Spacey did an excellent job. Also, nice cameo by my Mayor and Governor-elect in his late cousin's movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JamesL

Jan 22, 2011

If I had known this film was going to be campy instead of serious, I would not have gone. A disappointment considering the seriousness of the subject. Spacey needs an ego check as this almost becomes a B movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Shiira

Mar 10, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Bill Maher is right. Be more cynical. If you think our government is still a democracy in its purest sense, you don't know Jack. If you believe our politicians serve their constituents with sound moral compasses, you simply haven't been paying attention. In some cases, they don't serve them at all. Pay to play, baby. Meet Tom DeLay, your worst nightmare. Back when he was in office, the former majority leader from Texas had the bright idea of turning our government over to market forces, and in the documentary "Casino Jack: T.U.S.O.M.", DeLay makes it perfectly clear that he would do it all over again, even though free enterprise, synonymous with capitalism, is responsible for what currently ails our country, still reeling from the unprecedented collapse of its financial institutions. When DeLay deregulated campaign financing(what one analyst describes as "legalized bribery"), he opened up Pandora's Box, setting the stage for the G.-L.-B. Act which turned our banks into gambling halls. In the non-fictionalized account of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, DeLay looked straight into the camera's eye and lied through his teeth, brazenly declaring, evidence to the contrary, that he treated the convicted felon no differently from any other special interest advocate. Taking its cues from the Alex Gibney documentary, "Casino Jack" shows without the shadow of a doubt that the self-proclaimed "deregulation nut" knew Abramoff. On a trip to the Mariana Islands, home of a thriving garment industry that Abramoff had protected from outside intervention, DeLay says, "These people seem happy," while inspecting a factory, a seeming extension of American-style democracy. It's not until we're back stateside during a K. Street party that we learn, through a reporter's question posed to Jack, about the island factories being described as "sweat shops and rape camps" by watchdog groups speaking on behalf of the low-paid workforce. Although the film isn't called "Island Jack", what Abramoff concocted and unleashed upon this Pacific chain deserves a film of its own, and more importantly, the fallout shouldn't be short-shrifted with a single line as being the final word on the human rights violation matter. Like DeLay, "Casino Jack" itself avoids any contact with the indentured seamstresses, as if the filmmaker too was bought off with Abramoff's hush money. As a result of the film choosing not to document the systemic abuse that ran rampantly through these textile-based dictatorships, "Casino Jack" could remain an amiable comedy, perhaps out of an affinity for Jason Reitman's "Thank You For Smoking", another film that didn't fully actualize the ramifications of a lobbyist's handiwork. The filmmaker wouldn't be able to get away with humanizing Abramoff had he depicted an instance of employer/employee rape. This is not a John Sayles film, or Richard Linklater's "Fast Food Nation". In the 2009 doc, we hear the story about a factory worker trying to sell his kidney as a means of returning home, but even this highly-touted film draws the line at hammering a death nail in Abramoff's public image, since it leaves out the report that the lobbyist helped write a Texas congressman's speech which attacked the credibility of a Marianan teen sex worker's testimony about her island holiday. Like the documentary, "Casino Jack" has a sense of fair play, but here's the rub: this Harvard-trained former Young Republican is not a fair man, and shouldn't be accorded any special considerations. Back in the day, he and DeLay forged a friendship that would result in the two men irrevocably laying waste to the principles of our founding fathers. The "Gimme Five" scheme that Jack and his right-hand man Michael Scanlon hatched and implemented like corporate cowboys upon the casino-owning Indian tribes was unscrupulous and certainly deserves its allotted screen time, but unlike the Chippewa elders who owned multi-million businesses, the Southeast Asian immigrants had nothing. Instead of their plaintive cries, we hear Ms. Abramoff's anguished sobs, and Jack musing aloud, "I let down God," without a trace of satirical self-awareness. The film likes him. That's why "Casino Jack" fails to fully indict Jack as a villain. We don't need a fair and balanced film about a sociopath. There's still too many uncynical babes in the woods out there. Unlike Hustler publisher Larry Flint, who admits he's the worst, due to the abetment of the film's relatively positivistic spin on the lobbyist's persona, Abramoff can't do the same, when he surreptitiously passes off the blame to the system in a protracted daydream at his senate panel hearing, where he bursts into Al Pacino-like theatrics, screaming, "You're out of order," like in Norman Jewison's "And Justice For All". In his twisted mind, Abramoff fancies himself as a folk hero. Does "Casino Jack" feel the same way, too?… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

pgmark

Dec 23, 2010

I'm tired of Kevin Spacey a bit... every role seems to be done the same now. Ok story.. and it is nice to see a movie that might wake up a few people to how horrible government is. Things are not done for the majority......the corrupt and big business push "their" laws through.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Zebunker

Dec 21, 2015

20 minutes in I did not know what was going on. 30 minutes in I wondered what I was watching. Is this a dark comedy? Why is the sniper guy from Saving Private Ryan in this, and in a suit. Where's his rifle? 40 minutes in I stopped to make tacos. After the most amazing tacos I tried again. 1020 minutes in I did not know what was going on. 30 minutes in I wondered what I was watching. Is this a dark comedy? Why is the sniper guy from Saving Private Ryan in this, and in a suit. Where's his rifle? 40 minutes in I stopped to make tacos. After the most amazing tacos I tried again. 10 minutes later I stopped. What am I watching? There is about an hour left of movie. I'm not going to watch it.

Dialog blows by so fast. It's full of words, it needs edited. It sounds like it's trying to be Catch Me If You Can meets Reservoir Dogs. It just does not work at all. It's too hard to follow what's going on, unless you are an expert in politics or followed this story and read every article about it. Understanding the plot of Mission Impossible is easier. Make tacos instead.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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