Philip Seymour Hoffman has played some schlubs in his time, but few beat the introverted, self-destructive loser he portrays in this downbeat, fact-based drama. And when we say loser, we mean loser: Toronto bank manager Dan Mahowny embezzled $10 million to finance his gambling habit, the largest one-man bank fraud in Canadian history.
In the morose figure of Hoffman, Mahowny emerges as a lumbering sad-sack steeped in self-denial, unable to acknowledge his addiction even as he fills the coffers of John Hurt's sleazy casino owner. Director Richard Kwietniowski (Love And Death On Long Island) revels in the minutiae of Hoffman's larceny, while Maury Chaykin supplies welcome laughs as a leg-breaking bookie sucked into his scams. By the end, though, we're no closer than Mahowny's too-forgiving girlfriend (Minnie Driver in a blonde wig) to knowing what makes him tick.
DVD Extras:
None.
