This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Fantastic!

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

As if it mixes Magnolia (1999) with Jackie Brown (1997). The matter of many ordinary people having their own problems, interweaving together, from the first, with the crime's atmosphere that gathers different people in one climax, from the second. But does it succeed.. in whatever ?! It's about gambling, as a pure idea maybe. The has-been magician gambles with his life savings, to lose and die. The basketball player's older brother gambles with his brother then his own life to lose and die. The henchman gambles with his life to lose and die. And the lost writer gambles with her and her husband's life savings to lose and not die. As you see it's dark and disappointing. And while there is somehow a happy ending, meanings about love and sacrifice, there are also some questions to be asked : Was that henchman suppressed homosexual or just a lonely person in desperate need for a friend ? What about the friend's story? How he works out his relationship with his girlfriend or revenges on the killer of his companion ? (he only was about to hit the girlfriend as an ultimate answer !).The worst thing is when the character of that crippled dusty detective (Kelsey Grammar in one heck of a NOSE!), gives a voice-over speech as a finale, while saying forced aphorisms like "The human needs more..", and so. Well, who is that character in the first place ?!, and why does he – suddenly and oddly – conclude the movie ?! And it isn't enough without the appearance of the crime lord Ivan (played by Mark Rydell, the director himself) as the glossy god of that filthy world and everything everybody dreams of (?!). So is it some reading to our world as evil? Is it a tragedy of fools? Is it a satire against the human greed? Or is it just another melodrama where the writer kills nearly everybody then preoccupies himself with extracting philosophical lessons at the end? In any case, that ending is nothing but more disappointment !I can't believe how bad the level of directing is. Rydell didn't do anything. The case is hellishly TV-ish (dead is the word). Save the editing, which – thank god – made it coherent and no boring, there is absolutely no second to call clever or smart. It's all about actors chatter in narrow cadres with great tepidity. So eventually while the movie provides some dramatic stories for some actors, hoping to be another Magnolia, or even Crash, it ends up as so poor and uneven.Kim Basinger has so limited capacities, some other actresses could have shined in her role. Forest Whitaker is good, but in something lesser than him. Kelsey Grammar committed a crime by accepting the worst written role in history. And Danny DeVito does it with no particularity whatsoever; no wonder since that have-not situation did strike utterly, what I wonder about is his involving in producing this. The only merit it has is its witness that Jay Mohr can do drama effectively away from his much known stiff comedy. Making any movie is a gamble. But this movie's makers gambled good names in a losing game. So with another writer or – sure – director, (Even Money) could have been something to watch, love and respect. Because I regretted those 113 minutes of artless time and alleged wisdom.

I like the political undertones of this movie. But that's about it really i would end my commentary here but IMDb would not allow me to cut so short. Some good acting I guess, but the movie really does not have that much to offer cinema as such. always a pleasure to see these actors, in this case not at the most convincing, none of them.Its a very spoon fed movie, any fool will get it. Its like an idiots guide to the concept so many times portrayed and the world still plays along. Cheesy bits like death with the mobile in the dude's hand and Danny DeVito hanging at the end you can see that he is still alive, he doesn't look dead at all. I found the idea of the book on Abraham the magician very inspiring. The ending of the whole movie though is oh so very predictable from the very beginning.

The comparisons to "Babel" and "Fast Food Nation" are way off the mark. "Even Money" is a film noir with revenge at its center, in gambling win or lose there is a payday and in this movie all the debts are paid, and there is potential for two couples to emerge from their morass. This is a good film, directed by a pro, Mark Rydell, who has even has a cameo role in which some of the irony and mystery is explained.This is a sleazy movie -- to paraphrase Michael Douglas in "Wall Street," sleaze is good, and tips its hat to Orson Welles in one of my favorite films, "Touch of Evil." Yes, it is about addiction and much of the extraordinary cast (Kim Basinger, Kelsey Grammar, Danny Devito, Forest Whitaker, Ray Liotto and Tim Roth among them) play it carefully, straddling the line, without becoming camp or going over the top. High marks to the director for this.If you like your cynicism straight and don't turn your head at a little cinematic violence this is a movie you will enjoy. Its well worth taking a flier on.

EVEN MONEY (2007) ** Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Ray Liotta, Forest Whitaker, Tim Roth, Jay Mohr, Kelsey Grammar, Nick Cannon, Carla Gugino, Grant Sullivan,Carson Brown, Cassandra Hepburn (Dir: Mark Rydell)Double or Nothing: Big Gamble on Fine Cast in Otherwise Craps FilmGambling is an addiction that, like drug abuse or alcoholism, affects not only the one perpetuating the disease but also those around them including their loved ones. In this melodramatic attempt at showing the ills of the so-called gambling lifestyle (an oxymoron come to think of it) then the odds are against the viewer in this hodgepodge of dramatic vignettes.Intertwined throughout this CRASH-like narrative are Carol Carver (Basinger, acting up a storm here), a novelist struggling to find her second novel but fritters her afternoons away in a local casino overwhelmed with guilt at having her family's life savings nearly completely lost at her bad luck; Walter (De Vito, one of the film's producers to boot), a down-and-out slight-of-hand magician who thinks he can get back in the lime-light and takes Carol under his wing in helping her get back her lost monies ; Clyde Snow (Whitaker, equally giving a run for his money acting up to a full-bodied sweat, a hard-working plumber who wagers too high on his younger brother Godfrey (Cannon), a skilled high school basketball player with dreams of the NBA in his brilliant future; Augie and Murph (Mohr and Sullivan, respectively), a pair of small-time bookies who take their anger out on the welchers with quick brutal beatings; and Victor (Roth hamming it up to the hilt) as an oily big-time bookie who may be guilty in a series of murders of his competition.Also on hand are Liotta as Basinger's English lit teaching husband whose patience is growing weary thinking his wife is having an affair and their tween daughter Claudia (Brown) rebelling with her budding sexuality; Veronica (Gugino), a doctor and girlfriend to Murph who isn't aware (at first) of her beloved's violent tendencies; and Detective Brunner (Grammer in some unwisely recommended facial make-up prostheses), investigating the string of murders and the lure of a mysterious gangster/red herring named Ivan. The scattershot screenplay by newcomer Robert Tannen is all over the place and while it gets the duh point of gambling is bad for you the flat direction by vet Rydell (ON GOLDEN POND) leaves his actors grasping for air like fish out of water. The odds for the viewer to be entertained are decidedly craps.