Casino Jack

Prior to watching that train movie "Unstoppable" with Denzel, I assumed that "inspired by true events" was about the same as "based on a true story". Well, the only similarity Unstoppable had with actual events was that a train went rogue. So when Casino Jack started with "inspired by true events" you know I just had to look it up afterwards and see how similar the movie was to what actually happened. And now I don't know what to think "inspired" means because this movie was pretty darn close, if not uncomforatbly close to the truth. This movie kicks corruptions ass and takes names by actually calling politicians out by name. Onwards!

Casino Jack stars Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff, a Washington superlobbyist with friends in high places. I pride myself on being a fairly intelligible person, but the business of politics has always confused me. For the longest time what I thought lobbyists were was about the exact opposite of the truth. So now I am a little older and wiser about lobbyists, but their dealings still confuse me. This movie does a good job trying to dumb it down enough so we can all understand the complexities of Abramoff's dealings. With that being said, I was still confused what their motives were at times, and why they were doing what they were doing, but it wasn't anything I couldn't figure out in the end.

I don't want to call this movie a comedy, but it was funny, in a "I can't believe they are doing this (and think they can get away with it)" way, accentuated even more so by the fact that they did actually do it in real life. Good on the director for boldly tackling the issue of lobbyists and corruption in the American government.

The actors were all playing to their strengths in this one (I guess people are type-casted for a reason) Kevin Spacey was smart and smooth, with just the right amount of hubris. Barry Pepper was cute but not the sharpest tool. Jon Lovitz was sleazy but lovable. And the wonderful Graham Greene was a stoic temple of reason.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

p.s. You know what really grinds my gears? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Indians are people from India and people that were the original inhabitants of a land are called Aboriginals or Natives. How long is it going to take for this to catch on?! This movie takes place in the 2000's and they call then Indians through out the whole thing. I hope this is more an American thing.