On Tuesday The Washington Post ran a short update on Jack Abramoff, who’s out of federal prison and on probation for the next three years. The article reported that he was leaving his workplace of the past six months, Tov Pizza in Baltimore. I remember my shock months ago upon first learning he’d taken a minimum wage job, but based on the man’s now toxic reputation and his unsavoriness as represented in the late George Hickenlooper’s CASINO JACK, I realize I shouldn’t be surprised.
CASINO JACK stars Kevin Spacey as the man at the heart of 21stcentury America’s most resonant political scandal. He’s everyone’s favorite K Street boogeyman, “super lobbyist” Jack Abramoff. Jack cons his way into amassing an empire composed of restaurants, casinos, and his own private Hebrew “academy” (complete with ice hockey rink and Zamboni machine) - and that’s just for starters. To score this loot, he and business partner Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper) engage in endless, illicit quid pro quo deals with Indian tribe-run casinos and other special interests. They then curry favor with crooked politicians willing to pass legislation for those parties’ incoming cash. Former House majority leader and self-described “Hammer” Tom DeLay (recently found guilty for conspiracy and money laundering and awaiting sentencing) and Ohio congressman Bob Ney (who served seventeen months in prison) are among those influential figures implicated in the corruption. Abramoff and Scanlon’s ripples of high-end bribes become more and more reckless until a sleazy former mattress salesman they have connections with (Jon Lovitz) enlists his mob ties to commit murder, and the dominoes begin to fall for everyone. And the once high-powered Jack Abramoff quickly descends into worldwide infamy.
The movie succeeds at stringing together these disparate elements - including Abramoff’s increasingly wacky sequence of crimes - into a comprehensive narrative. However, the film fails to introduce much new material to this ripped-from-the-headlines story. Its failure to do so brings to mind such similarly missed cinematic opportunities as this year’s FAIR GAME (on the Valerie Plame scandal) and WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (which partly touched upon Big Business’s complicity in the recent economic meltdown).
CASINO JACK also disappoints in its attempts to flesh out the man himself. All of us obviously know he’s a creep, which Spacey’s characterization fully embodies but shows little otherwise. The remorse he expresses over the hell his family’s been put through comes all too briefly at the movie’s end, yet the film suggests through its glimpses of his family life that his wife and kids are a priority to him. I would have liked to further explore this side of him. We are shown many his quirks, from his terrible impressions of movie icons to his outraged screaming jags. His most bizarre and perhaps revealing habit is when he blurts out such random and self-serving asides as “And I work out – EVERY DAY!” when he finds himself in a defensive crouch. And yes, of course, there’s that big, awful black hat he looked like such a Mafioso in during his perp walk.
But the inclusion of such colorful idiosyncrasies combined with two-time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey’s commendable performance are still not enough to explain the man’s motivations. It takes but a second of hesitation before he plunges headlong into his first shady deal. But from where did his willingness to take such risks come from in the first place? I also found Spacey’s interpretation of Abramoff neither charming nor charismatic, two traits the real-life Abramoff supposedly employed in spades to achieve his success on the lobbying circuit.
As for the woman playing Jack’s wife, the only time Kelly Preston has impressed me with her acting was in CITIZEN RUTH fourteen years ago. Everything else has left me cold, and her version of Pam Abramoff is no different. Her sobbing scene is so phony it’s embarrassing. I can’t imagine what went through Spacey’s mind during that mess. But considering Jennifer Connelly won an Oscar for little more than screaming and breaking a plate in A BEAUTIFUL MIND, perhaps Preston will get a nod for attempting to do something similar! She and Spacey have no chemistry whatsoever, and I found it difficult to believe that such a beautiful and confident woman as Pam would fall head over heels in love with this unbecoming man. Some explication may have helped there as well. But I simply have no idea why Preston was chosen for this role.
Barry Pepper on the contrary performs beautifully as Jack’s obnoxious sidekick Scanlon, with his goofy swept back hair, constant “dude”s and ice cubes tinkling in his red wine. I didn’t realize Scanlon worked as a lifeguard after ratting out Abramoff to the Feds, and the parting shot of him chasing a bikini beach beauty is classic. Jon Lovitz tends to put the same spin on all of his characters, but he shines and amuses to no end nonetheless as sleazeball Adam Kidan. He proves a great comedic foil to the inherent seriousness of the subject matter, his nasally whine always a surefire way to provoke laughter.
Rachel Lefevre as Scalone’s vengeful girlfriend Emily is under-used considering her weighty role in bringing the two men to their knees. I would have loved to have seen more of Tom DeLay, though Spencer Garrett’s portrayal of “The Hammer” unexpectedly did not come across as larger than life. Since Abramoff and DeLay’s names were so often linked by the media when the scandal erupted I’d also assumed the men had more face time with each other, but perhaps not. Maury Chaykin steals the screen as slimy mobster Big Tony, though it was alarming how much his appearance had deteriorated at the time this film was shot. (Chaykin died in July.) His skin hangs on him, and he looks substantially older than his 61 years. Finally, Jeffrey R. Smith makes for a believable Grover Norquist, but Christian Campbell’s Ralph Reed, always held up as such a charming figure, barely utters a word despite popping up repeatedly in the background.
Chaykin is not the only talent lost from CASINO JACK. Director George Hickenlooper, responsible for such other films as FACTORY GIRL and documentaries MAYOR OF THE SUNSET STRIP and HEARTS OF DARKNESS: A FILMMAKER’S APOCALYPSE (the latter winning an Emmy) sadly passed away in October at the age of 47. He was in Denver at the time, for a film festival premiere of the movie, and, sadly, was not able to enjoy Spacey’s recently announced Golden Globe nomination.
Director: George Hickenlooper
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Kelly Preston, Jon Lovitz, Rachelle Lefevre
Writer: Norman Snider
Run Time: 108 minutes
Opens December 17th