Mad Money

In an interview with the Sunday Los Angeles Times, director Callie Khouri explains that her goal for “Mad Money” is ‘unabashed entertainment.’ To that end, she is successful. This fluffy caper story does not ask much of the audience nor of its stars, Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. Bridget (Keaton) gets a job as a janitor at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank when her husband (Ted Danson), downsized from his job, announces that they are $280,000 in debt and will have to sell their house. During her daily routine of cleaning, Bridget observes the process of destroying worn-out money, which gives her ideas. She enlists the aid of a shredder (Queen Latifah) and a woman (Holmes) who carts the money from the security room to the shredder. Soon these three unlikely partners are successfully stealing millions of dollars. And since the money is to be destroyed anyway, who’s to know how much they take. Keaton’s Bridget is a bright woman who counts on others underestimating her. Queen Latifah’s Nina is a single mother struggling to keep her two sons in school and away from the drug influences in the neighborhood. Holmes’s character Jackie is the only one that seems underwritten because, for the most part, all she does is chew gum and bop around while listening to her ipod. Although I must admit, she does exhibit some interesting moves. Khouri employs flashback to tell much of the narrative and intersperses her characters speaking directly to the camera, which gives the feel of watching a reality television show. People who like happy endings will like “Mad Money.” Maybe that makes this movie too predictable, but that’s part of the pleasure of escaping the realities of one’s own life. (1/16/08)