Owning Mahowny Reviews

Entertaining Little Indie

Philip Seymour Hoffman, at last ,gets a leading role in this entertaining little black comedy, instead of his usual role of supporting actor. And he is, as always, superb as a bank manager who is addicted to gambling and runs up enormous debts , running into millions.And of course the only way to pay them off and gamble more is by robbing his own bank. Great stuff, but it's all carried by Hoffman, without him the film would grind slowly to its inevitable end. John Hurt puts on some sort of accent as a Casino boss and Minnie Driver is, well , Minnie Driver, but watch this just to see Hoffman.

An interesting view on the nature of addiction

A man with an addiction to gambling; a woman with an addiction to the wrong man. If you're interested in poring over how irrational and how destructive some addictions can be, this is worth watching. The characters are thoroughly unlikeable. The movie is hardly riveting stuff, but I've seen a lot worse.

A bit boring

I like Hoffman but he acted the part of a boring bank clerk a bit too well in this. Why on earth Minnie Driver keeps getting cast as an Amercian (Canadian, whatever) just escapes me. She was painful to watch, as usual.

Any film with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it is worth watching, and this is no exception. In his typically brillaint acting under-stated acting style, Hoffman plays a man addicted to gambling.

Banking problems?

A tightly-made Canadian film based on the true story of a bank employee who embezzled millions of dollars to fuel his gambling addiction. It?s a pretty straight-forward account of the events but it?s beautifully acted, especially by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Trouble is, he plays the part with such sweaty authenticity that it sometimes makes very uncomfortable viewing.

WWWHHHAAATTT TTTHHHEEE???????

Very slow and you knew the storyline almost from the start. Certain parts of the film you guessed why they were showing you these parts because it would happen to him, The security guards bit for example. predictable and slow not recommended

BORING!!!!

NOT BAD BUT BORING IN PARTS,DON,T WATCH IT WHEN YOUR SLEEPY,

Greath performance by hoffman!

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, really makes this film his own. Ably backed up by Minnie Driver, in a played down transformation, Hoffman plays the archetypal gambling addict to perfection. Interestly, as well, is the underlying metaphor of greed that is prevelant throughout the film from both the bank, in chasing a hieress`s fathers money and the casino managers waring for Mahownys custom. Rising star Hoffman is sure to go on to carve out a great career for himself in hollywood.

A very entertaining and well directed film.

Interesting little film

This true story of a man's obsessive gambling addiction is powered by another chillingly real performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman. It perfectly captures the drabness of the life portrayed, and underlines the sadness of the hard-core gambler as Mahowny never seems to really enjoy the experience, even when he's winning. Ironically enough this is also the film's main flaw, as it captures the dullness too well, meaning that while it is fascinating viewing it is never as gripping as the story promises.

I have a financial problem!

Based on a true story, Philip Seymour-Hoffman (PSH) plays Canadian Dan Mahowny, a banker who abuses his position to fund his gambling addiction.

If stealing from his employer wasn?t enough, he places his bets with shady small-time mobsters and eventually finds himself under the control of casino owner Victor Foss (John Hurt)

Whilst PSH perfectly captures the ?little man in too deep? angle of his character, he is ultimately restricted to little more than a series of sorrowful looks and slumped body language, which doesn?t really draw upon his undoubted talent. The plot itself, I felt, was too engrossed in the mechanics of gambling and the workings of the casino system, rather than examining the demons that were driving Mahowny?s addictive behaviour. You only have to compare the screen time given to important characters like Mahowny?s girlfriend (the ?de-glamorised? Minnie Driver) to the amount given to shots of rolling dice and beads of sweat, to see that the characters were not driving the plot.

Perhaps I?m being a bit too harsh on this film because, overall, it isn?t that bad a film. The fact that Mahowny is not the warmest of characters to grace the screen didn?t help and despite the fact the guy had a serious problem, I didn?t really feel a great deal of sympathy for him. The bleak, wintry cinematography adds to the relentless melancholy and eventually it just wore my interest down. Whilst this is certainly a far more ?serious? look at the issue of gambling than say the mob orientated Goodfellas or Casino, these films were entertaining whereas watching this one is a bit of a chore. 3 out of 5.