Mad Money
(2007/Anchor Bay/Starz DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B-
I have
not liked a Diane Keaton film since she did Manhattan Murder Mystery with Woody Allen back in 1993, but here
she is 15 years later (!!!) finally being truly funny again. Based on a real life robbery that happened at
the Bank of England and already made into a film over there, writer/director
Callie Khouri’s Mad Money (2007) is
a funny, smart, amusing, likable and even laugh out loud comedy about three
women who finally come together when a plan to steal money marked for
destruction from being too old might just work.
The story
begins when a couple (Keaton and Ted Danson, in some of his best work in a
while) find themselves sin financial troubles after living the good life in the
suburbs. She is forced to take any job
she can get and that lands up being a janitor, but at a federal government cash
disposal facility. There she meets a
single-mother (Queen Latifah, proving once again she is one of the best comic
actresses of her generation) who does the destroying. When the bright idea occurs, they wonder if
it can be done, but know they cannot do it alone. They need one more person, and that turns out
to be a flighty gal (Katie Holmes, who is a real hoot here) as a Walkman
wearing money delivery gal who they wonder is even stable enough to hold a
conversation!
Christopher
McDonald, Stephen Root and Roger Cross are among the solid supporting cast in
what is easily Khouri’s best work since Thelma
& Louise. Though some aspects
are what you might expect, at least half the fun is definitely getting there
and now that this has arrived on DVD, I think more than a few people who catch
up to it will be very surprised this was not a bigger hit. Needless to say the critics failed to get it
again!
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is not bad, but a little weak versus the
35mm film print I saw of it when it first hit theaters. The great cinematographer John Bailey,
A.S.C., ups the fun with a great shoot and camera angles that only up the
suspense and comedy. I can’t wait to see
the Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix
is a little better than the Dolby 2.0 Stereo, but this is joke and dialogue
based, so the surrounds only kick in for some interesting sound effects and the
amusing music score, including some interesting song choices. Extras include a terrific feature length
audio commentary by Khouri, the trailer and a behind the scenes featurette.
If you
want some good laughs from a comedy that remembers what it is to be funny, Mad Money is for you.
- Nicholas Sheffo
