Female heist movies are a rare film genre. Especially ones that star such respected actresses as Oscar-winning Diane Keaton and Oscar-nominated Queen Latifah, alongside Katie Holmes, with direction by Callie Khouri, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Thelma & Louise.
Given the combined talent assembled, the expectation that Mad Money -- about three U.S. Federal Reserve Bank workers who decide to rip off their employer -- might be a decent night at the movies is definitely there.
Sadly, this is no guilty-pleasure chick flick in the vein of Nine To Five, a fun-to-watch and funny film that also featured three women coming together. Although in that movie the trio were getting back at their sexist, bigoted, egotistical boss -- thegreat Dabney Coleman.
The difference with Mad Money, based on a British made-for-TV movie about a true-life incident, is that the robbery is a victimless crime as the worn-out currency the three women steal is scheduled for destruction, so there is no huge reason to root for Keaton, Latifah and Holmes other than to see them beat the system.
While it was fun to watch Coleman get his comeuppance, the same can't be said of the Mad Money heist although veteran character actor Stephen Root (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) does his best as the bad guy, the Federal Reserve Bank's uptight, by-the-book boss and Roger Cross (24) and Finesse Mitchell (Saturday Night Live) are also good as flirtateous security guards.
Of the three female leads, Keaton, as an upper-middle-class housewife facing the loss of her beautiful house and housekeeper after her husband (Ted Danson) loses his job, proves once again she expertly knows her way around physical comedy as her character is forced to take a job as a cleaning woman at the bank.
Still, it's hard to illicit much sympathy for a WASP without a home.
And while Queen Latifah projects undeniable strength as a single mother of two young boys living in the 'hood -- when Keaton goes to visit her someone drives by and screams, "What's up Miss Daisy?" -- there's not much to her part.
The biggest revelation, acting-wise, is Holmes, best known for the past couple of years for her tabloid-friendly marriage to Tom Cruise and the birth of their daughter Suri.
Despite noteworthy turns in such drama as Pieces Of April, Wonder Boys, and Thank You For Smoking, Holmes' model-like beauty, and hit-and-miss career has often overshadowed her acting abilities.
In Mad Money, Holmes gets to stretch her comedic muscles as a kooky, blue-collar character who sports long, curly hair, always has her headphones on so she can shake her groove-thang, and lives in a trailer with her equally spaced-out husband (promising newcomer Adam Rothenberg) who's a motorcyle-loving meat packer.
Still, without a consistently great script -- provided here by Glenn Gers who penned the Anthony Hopkins-Ryan Gosling thriller Fracture -- or a riveting plot, Mad Money is ultimately more frustrating than infuriating. Call it Maddening Money.
It's also strike two for Khouri, who has yet to find real success as a director given her only other feature film behind the camera was the equally forgettable Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
She should stick to writing. She's proven she's really good at that.
(This film is rated PG)
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