How long is casino jack

Or, at least, he believes that Abramoff believed it. And so, despite all his edges, the film goes soft, and never builds to the dizzy climaxes it needs to. Spacey is fun to watch, though.

He's got some good support from the reliably intense Barry Pepper, too, as his right-hand man, and Jon Lovitz as the schlub who accidentally helps attract the law's attention. But if you care about the material, you already saw it done earlier, and better, in the Gibney film. Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission. All rights reserved About Us. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Building upon that it could see some solid niche business in foreign markets. Opening with his arrest in , Casino Jack adroitly conveys the rapidity his profile transitioned from kingmaker to pariah.

The action then reels back two years to considerably better and headier times the filmmakers have played fast and loose with the real time line; condensing events that occurred as far back as into a 24 month span.

In the process of securing favorable legislation for his clients we get a first hand look at his schmoozing finesse with high ranking officials, particularly Tom DeLay Spencer Garrett , Republican leader in the U. House of Representatives. The line of attack is anything but cut and dried. What anchors the picture is its attention to the personal lives of Abramoff and his partner Michael Scanlon Barry Pepper , a former aide to DeLay unmentioned in the film.

Though hardly an apologia, Abramoff is filled out by the presence of children, his genuinely warm relationship with his wife Kelly Preston and charitable and philanthropic activities. Scanlon, conversely, is a skirt chaser with an obsessive drive for material things. Also worth noting is the exemplary work of veteran film editor William Steinkamp who maintains a jaunty pace that goes a long to prevent the myriad plot strands from unraveling.

Not a masterpiece by any means -- "Barbarians At The Gates" is about leveraged buy outs and it's better -- but worth seeing once. I hope you have better luck in decoding the events than I did.

Republican political corruption in the Bush administration. TxMike 4 May The movie is based on real people and real events. In fact a quick 'net search on Abramoff will give additional background on his crimes and convictions. It also led to Tom Delay, the "hammer", stepping down from his leadership position. Always great Kevin Spacey is super as "super lobbyist" Jack Abramoff.

Obviously a very smart guy, the lines between legitimate lobbying and selling influence become very blurred in his vision. He has visions of grandeur and as a result needs more funds than he has available. In turn he uses most of the money for projects, like building a Jewish school, and a number of other illegal uses. Graham Greene of Northern Exposure fame is good as Bernie Sprague, the native American who figured out what Jack was all about and helped bring his crimes into investigation.

Barry Pepper is good as Michael Scanlon, Jack's friend and co-conspirator who appeared even more easily corruptible than Jack was. Spencer Garrett is good as Tom DeLay. Everyone should see this movie, simply for its inside views of how Washington really works.

Plus, it is very entertaining. It was George Hickenlooper's last film. I'm not sure if the distribution was limited, but this movie lost money big time, and it didn't cost that much to start.

There is also a documentary on this same subject. Kevin Spacey stars as Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist turned criminal, as if what he was doing wasn't criminal enough, though legal. Abramoff Spacey , who was staying within legal bounds as a lobbyist, gets greedy and with his business partner Mike Scanlon Pepper starts taking exorbitant fees from various Indian tribes supposedly to help them with their casino businesses. Of course, these were rival casinos and besides the fact that he was taking more than the legal limit of money, it was conflict of interest to work for several tribes.

Abramoff uses the money to open restaurants, a school for Jewish children, buy a fabulous home, all kinds of things.

The idea behind lobbying is that special interest groups - say, an Indian casino, pays a lobbyist who in turn pays congressmen to help smooth the way for the special interest via passage of laws, getting licensing, things of that sort. I don't know, I would call those bribes. Washington calls it lobbying. In one scene, Abramoff flies a bunch of politicos someplace and shows them a good time.

We pay for that, by the way. When a front man is needed, Abramoff turns to a mattress salesman Lovitz to help make a deal. Major, major trouble is the result. Abramoff ultimately is under investigation, his good friend, Senator Tom Delay, has to resign from the Senate, and the subpoenas start coming.

Kevin Spacey is excellent as the confident, charming, aggressive Abramoff, who thinks he has a lot of friends in high places. It's a big performance. Someone commented that they saw Abramoff interviewed and he seemed quite different from Spacey.

Well, Abramoff was in prison at the time and I imagine by then he was quite different. Spacey met him and I have to assume picked up some characteristics from him.

Barry Pepper is also top notch as the sleazy Mike Scanlon, whose massive infidelities cause a huge problem for both himself and Abramoff. Jon Lovitz I think was miscast. How could anyone think this idiot could make a huge business deal? The character should have at least seemed like he could do a deal of that nature.

The way Lovitz played it, no one would take him seriously - and that includes Abramoff. This is a pretty sobering look at how our government is run, and frankly, it sucks.

When Abramoff is supposed to testify before a committee, he fantasizes calling the committee a bunch of hypocrites. He was right. To hell with the public interest, where's my money. Kevin Spacey delivers a wonderful performance as lobbyist Jack Abramoff, caught in a web of deception, corruption and utter mayhem extending up the ladder in the Washington hierarchy of government. He is equally matched by Barry Pepper, who gives a tumultuous performance as his cohort in crime, Michael Scanlon.

The film shows the corruption of government officials as well and depicting Abramoff's greed for his downfall. Again, the Indians, as has been done in the past, are exploited for just about all they're worth.

Politics in the film was never dirtier as shown by the senators up to their necks in accepting bribes so as to pass legislation favorable to Abramoff and his cronies.

Everyone here seems to use religion as an outlet or as a way to justify what is going on. An ok story Gordon 1 September This film tells the story of a lobbyist who has a spectacular downfall.

The story is just ok, but I think I haven't enjoyed it so much because the main characters aren't so nice. It is probably not helped by the fact that the leading man suffers from a downfall as well. Kevin Spacey is truly an actor to adore. In 'Casino Jack', he gets even better and delivers a superb performance.

Abramoff, is one of the most notorious lobbyist's ever. Director George Hickenlooper does a good job, while Norman Snider's writing is flawed. The writing in the first hour is spot-on, but in the second hour, it falters. Even the culmination for that matter, doesn't leave the desired impact. Acting wise, as told, Spacey owns the film. He plays Abramoff superbly.

He truly is an Icon! Barry Pepper is Excellent. On the whole, 'Casino Jack' can be viewed once, for it's lead star's performance.

Must for Spacey Fans! Enough hubris for a Shakespearean tragedy. Ambition Is like the sea wave, which the more you drink The more you thirst—yea—drink too much, as men Have done on rafts of wreck—it drives you mad.

Tennyson:The Cup. Act i. Scene 3. Jack Abramoff Kevin Spacey may be the most notorious lobbyist of all time: The fees he received from tribes with casino interests were in the millions, navigated through Mike Scanlon Barry Pepper so as not to violate laws placing limits on those fees for licensed lobbyists.

This jaunty docudrama has the boldness of Abromov himself as it uses the actual names of politicians like Tom DeLay Spencer Garrett and Bob Nye Jeff Postil , who ended up indicted for their parts in influence peddling.

All the main characters have the names of real players, and while the film claims only to be "inspired" by real events, these characters were found guilty in real life. Spacey plays Abramoff as a wheeler-dealer who knows he's getting deeper in trouble but can't stop himself. His apparent good deeds for the disadvantaged, such as his schools, couldn't mask the shenanigans he went through to get enough cash to float the good deeds, his two restaurants, and off-shore casinos.

All the time his wife Kelly Preston is worried because of late notices for the mortgage. During this time, certain Native Americans are on to his tricks and closing in on his exorbitant fees for uncertain profit to the reservations. In this regard, the story is as you would guess it—the rise and fall of a gifted but flawed lobbyist who couldn't abide by the rules.

Although he appears relatively high-spirited and hopeful in prison, I have a feeling this upbeat ending may not be the way he spent his time. Events only "inspired" I must remember. Eventually even President Bush, who profited from Abramoff's ability to reap funds for Republican campaigns, would not sign a pardon for him.

Hellmant 31 January Kevin Spacy stars as Abramoff and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his decent but not outstanding performance. The film co-stars Barry Pepper and Jon Lovitz in impressive supporting roles.

It was written by Norman Snider and directed by George Hickenlooper, who died seven weeks before it's national release date. The film is a Hollywood biography detailing Jack Abramoff's corrupt career which led him as well as nine other lobbyists, congressional staffers and a couple White House officials to convictions and prison sentences.

The two spearheaded a conspiracy which involved fraud and the extortion of Native Americans as well as the bribing of public officials for political favors. The film is played out in a dark comedic way but it's subject matter is depressing and disturbing, which makes for a somewhat odd and misguided film.

The performances are mostly impressive but I don't think it's one of Spacey's better works, and certainly undeserving of any award nominations but his career has been a little disappointing lately, I think he's a little too full of himself. The directing is adequate but as I said probably the wrong tone for the material.

That's greatly due to the script as well which is kind of witty and clever but uneven and a little too all over the place. The politics are interesting and of course depressing and the film is especially dark because there's no one to root for or care about, with the exception of possibly Kelly Preston who plays Jack Abramoff's wife and Graham Greene who plays a SubChief of a victimized Indian tribe but their characters are too small and underdeveloped.

The film has some strengths and is a little entertaining but it's mostly a miss. Okay, I remember this "inspired by a true story" reminded me in both "comedic" moments and the feel of I Love You Phillip Morris, another goofy "inspirational true story. And I remember it made me miss 's Casino, that fantastic Martin Scorsese film. Nothing really stood out. The performances were ho-hum. Spacey is slowly, but surely exiting as my 1 favorite on my best actor list, even though he was certainly not terrible and he did hold the movie together.

Perhaps he found weakness in the story, direction and other actors and put his talents to work — to make this work? If this is, in fact, a true story, meaning, if all these events happened and this is how it all panned out, I'm guessing it was an equally uninteresting story in real life as well. And what is the story of Casino Jack, you ask? And since the movie's based on Jack's jail sentence, we know it's more on the illegal side.

Throw in a Bobcat Goldthwait Jon Lovitz and the mob rounds out the cast of kooky! Honestly, I found myself bored and even when they were trying to be funny. Which they were not. If you're die-hard interested in learning about Jack trading favors for the green in DC and abound, read the book that just came out this year, Casino Jack and the United States of Money. If you're too impatient for all that reading, hell, even the title's too long then you might be compelled to see this fluff.

C political lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Kevin Spacey, who's feelings of invincibility came crashing down on him together with the gallery of crooks who aligned themselves with him. We get to see Jack at the start of the movie being booked photographed fingerprinted and sent to the lock-up with his biggest shock is that there's no kosher food being served to the Jewish, as well as Muslim, prisoners like himself which seemed to bother Jack more then anything else.

In fact what we soon see in a number of flashbacks is that the dealings that Jack had on the outside in stiffing his clients out of as much as 70 million dollars were anything but kosher themselves! Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff really lets it all hang out in his Academy Award caliber,every bit as good as "The Usual Suspect" and "All American Beauty", performance as the slippery as an eel lobbyist who ended up destroying not only his innocent victims but those slimy creeps who worked together with him lives.

Not only did Jack bring himself down but also his good born again Christian friend and benefactor Congressional Majority leader Tom "The Exterminator" DeLay, Spencer Garrett, whom beside being involved with him in robbing a number of Native American Indian Tribes blind in after taking their millions for getting them gaming licenses and not delivering but pushing modern day slavery legislation in Sipan in the Mariana Islands!

That's by having the right to put the "Made In America" label, the islands where under US Government control, on the products being produced there. It's when Jack's stealing and covering up go so out of control that it even lead to the Mafia style murder of one of his biggest clients Greek shipping mogul Gus Boulis, Daniel Kash.

That lead straight to Adam Kidan who had the mob whack Boulis in revenge of him viciously attacking Kidan with a ballpoint pen. It's that senseless action which started the domino's to fall and put all of Jack's future plans on ice or like himself in cold storage! Telling them in open court on live TV and radio just what a bunch of phony lying and sanctimonious frauds they are in taking his pay-off money and looking the other way when he committed his many crimes in that they should be right there on trial together with him!

How long can you screw someone before you get caught?