MAD MONEY

Finally went to see Mad Money today. Actually, my friend and I had planned to see it last week, but since life happens the moment you have plans with your girlfriends, last week became this week! Since it was a Thursday morning, and the movie had been out for a couple of weeks, the theater was empty. We loved that. And we saw some great previews for a new Jodie Foster movie. (I love previews. They're part of the whole movie experience! )

Anyway, back to Mad Money.

My friend - who I'll refer to as "Macy" - whispered to me before the movie began, "Katie Holmes isn't a very good actress!" And I thought, "Uh-oh. I wonder if she knows we're sitting at a Katie Holmes movie." (She did.) And you know, after she said that, I couldn't think of any Katie Holmes movies I'd ever seen! Never even saw Dawson's Creek. (Although a quick Google search told me that I'd seen her in Phone Booth.)

Anyway, back to Mad Money.

This unlikely trio of ladies was a good combo, and putting them together in a movie was a fresh idea. Queen Latifah - who is always good in any movie she does - plays a struggling single mom. Diane Keaton - who is always "Diane Keaton" in any movie, but we still love her - plays an upper middle class housewife who's husband has been unemployed for awhile, so she has to go back to work. Katie Holmes plays a young free spirit. It was a good role for her. (Although Macy and I discussed that her role was kind of an "exaggerated" character, so it was hard to judge her acting skills by it.) Ted Danson was great - playing Keaton's nervous, then "into-it" husband. Adam Rothenberg, who played Katie's husband, was a nice compliment to the cast - he was kinda the loveable airhead, and had some funny moments.

The movie starts in the present, then goes back to tell the story about three ladies who work at the Federal Reserve and cook up a plan to steal the money that is being destroyed. It goes through the birth of their plan, the execution of their plan, and the results of their executed plan. The story, of course, is a bit unrealistic - but as you know, I love Die Hard movies, so "unrealistic" doesn't bother me a bit. The only thing that bothered me about the storyline was that it kinda portrayed the stealing of the money, as not so bad. In fact, when Ted Danson's character is nervous about it at first, he is made to seem like a killjoy. Queen Latifah's character seemed to have more of a conscience about it than the others, but in the end - when they kinda beat the system, and the danger of getting caught has passed - she seems to lose that conscience. There was nothing in this movie that said that stealing money is wrong.

Overall, I would give Mad Money a 6.5 out of 10 rating. I'm glad I spent $7 to see it, and not $20 to buy the DVD. I had a good time seeing it, enjoyed my morning out, but it was nothing to write home about.