movie review: Owning Mahoney

[glen]

Since JV posted one that he thought was bad, here's a movie that I thought was exceptional. A GREAT gambling movie.

I'm sure that every poker player can see shades of themself at one time or another in Phillip Seymour Hoffamn's character, not so much for the obsessive gambling, but just maybe for the pensive drive homes and distracted work days when you just think more about playing after work. . .

There's great attention to detail, like when he gets a promotion but still wears beat up clothes and drives a lemon, or how he prioritizes his life putting gambling above his relationship and work.

My only criticism of this movie is Minnie Driver's glasses. I mean, yeah, it takes place in the early 80's, but come on. . . no one would ever really wear those, would they?

[M.B.E.]

I saw "Owning Mahoney" twice. Strongly recommended!

I also liked the director's previous film, "Love and Death on Long Island (http://imdb.com/title/tt0119574/)".

[HDPM]

I liked the movie too. The part I couldn't see was where he couldn't even give Minnie a little as a courtesy when they went to vegas. I've never been THAT much of a degenerate. Even w/ the glasses and Canadian accent you could hit it of you had to. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Bill Murphy]

And I'm a big fan of Hoffman, Minnie, and degenerate gambling.

Main problem is guy really was that drab & boring, and his gf that much of a doormat. Minnie(hottie) sadly miscast. No chem w/PSH whatsoever. Can't imagine what she thought reading the script. I also didn't like the obvious phony, low budget sets, although easy to see why no casino would co-op.

Book this was based on recently reprinted w/diff title that I can't remember. No updates whatsoever from the original ~1984.

Book's worth a read, and PSH always genius, but there's not even any Minnie-spank material. /images/graemlins/shocked.gif /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[glen]

"The part I couldn't see was where he couldn't even give Minnie a little as a courtesy when they went to vegas. I've never been THAT much of a degenerate."

This is right on. You would think that in his mindset, he might even think it would bring him good luck, or at least take the edge off the day. . .

[glen]

"Main problem is guy really was that drab & boring, and his gf that much of a doormat."

I think that helped accuentuate his obsession, that he was such a boring guy, so boring that he needed a spark. . .

"Book's worth a read, and PSH always genius, but there's not even any Minnie-spank material."

Any Minnie material would also include PSH, which would kill it for me right then and there. . .

p.s. In the DVD for Punch Drunk Love with Sandler, there's a fake commercial for the mattress store where PSH ran the phone sex business from. They filmed him advertising mattress prices while playing his guitar on top of an eighteen-wheeler, then they zoomed out, and he went to jump onto five mattresses which were resting on top of a van. During the shoot, though, when he jumped off the truck onto the mattresses, he bounced off of them and fell about nine feet onto his side. He walked it off, but it was kind of funny. . .Since it's on the DVD, I'm sure he's laughing about it now too. . .

[Phat Mack]

I've never seen this, but I thought PSH's dice junkie in Hard Eight was perfect.