Netflix Self-Torture Experiment Trilogy #35: Mad Money
I don’t know anymore…after three years, my methodology at this point is pretty much just randomly selecting movies that look dumb.
Synopsis from Netflix: When her husband (Ted Danson) loses his high-paying job, well-off Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) joins the janitorial staff of the Federal Reserve Bank and conspires with two fellow employees (Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah) to pilfer old money that’s scheduled to be destroyed. It seems like a simple plan … but, of course, it’s never that simple. Director Callie Khouri’s comic caper is based on a true story.
My thoughts (spoilers included): After watching Mad Money, I keep going back and forth in my head about whether I liked it or not. Part of me is still recoiling at the plot which was so far-fetched that all employees of the Federal Reserve would scoff at it, and another part of me is just happy that I got to see a film with some competent acting for the first time in a while. I don’t know if I should just suspend my disbelief and be pleased with a storyline where everyone gets off scot-free, or if I should point out the obvious that in real life everyone involved in the scheme would go to jail for grand larceny. In the end, I’m forced to view the glass as half empty because Mad Money was neither a funny comedy nor a particularly good heist movie. I’d really like to give it 2.5 stars for being thisclose to being a quality flick, but Netflix doesn’t allow you to do that. [Two out of five stars.]
