Product Details

• Actors: Ted Danson, Queen Latifah, J.C. MacKenzie, Christopher McDonald, Stephen Root
• Directors: Callie Khouri
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
• DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B001DDY6V2
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #30,359 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #31 in

  Movies & TV > Comedy > Comedy Stars > Diane Keaton

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Take three women in need of cash, a slew of money about to be shredded, and a plot that nicks a bit from 2005's Fun with Dick and Jane and you've got Mad Money. Diane Keaton stars as Bridget, a stay-at-home wife whose life as she knows it ends when her husband loses his cushy, high-paying job. Her college degree in literature turns out to be useless, so she accepts a janitorial position at the local bank. There she meets Nina (Queen Latifah) and Jackie (Katie Holmes), who could use some spare scratch as well. Suddenly, it dawns on Bridget that the bank has plenty of what they need: money! Because the gals are so cute and nice, it's clear they're not really going to rob the bank. What they will do, though, is take the old bills headed for the shredder and recycle it back into the economy by spending it. (Oh heck, they're basically stealing the money.) Played for laughs, the movie doesn't bother to discuss the economic ramifications of what would happen if too much money was recirculated, but that's neither here nor there. The trio of personable actors--particularly Keaton--does a good job of making the characters likable, even in some unbelievable situations. But Keaton deserves better than Mad Money, which isn't really funny enough to be a comedy and doesn't have enough romance to qualify as good chick flick. Still, Keaton, Latifah and Holmes share warm camaraderie. It'd be fun to see them reunited in a film that had a little more weight to it. Ironically, Mad Money was directed by directed by Callie Khouri, who wrote Thelma & Louise and Something to Talk About--movies that had all the key components (compelling storyline and characters worth cheering on) that Mad Money is lacking. --Jae-Ha Kim

Stills from Mad Money (Click for larger image)

Product Description

Academy Award winner Diane Keaton (Something's Gotta Give), Oscar nominee Queen Latifah (Chicago) and Katie Holmes (Thank You for Smoking) star in Mad Money, a comedy about three ordinary women who form an unlikely friendship and decide to do something extraordinary - rob one of the most secure banks in the world. Directed by Academy Award winner Callie Khouri (screenwriter of Thelma and Louise).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Everyone, everywhere, every minute, July 30, 2008

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

When money wears out, the government shreds it to make way for a new rush of fresh, crisp bills. There's brilliant comic potential right there.

But alas, that comic potential is not realized in "Mad Money," a limply long-winded comedy that strives to be quirky, original and distinctly girly. Unfortunately the comic timing is always at least a little off, the writing is mediocre, and the three lead actresses are either given little to work with, or just don't have the acting muscle to make you care.

Bridget (Diane Keaton) is living a comfortable upper-middle-class existence in the suburbs -- until her laid-off hubby Don (Ted Danson) reveals that they are up to their ears in debt, and he can't get another job. Goodbye suburban splendor.

So Bridget rushes out to get a job, only to find that the only job an unskilled older woman can get is as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank. But when she sees Nina (Queen Latifah) shredding the worn-out bills, Bridget becomes hungrily determined to save her luxe lifestyle by smuggling out those about-to-be-destroyed bills... or "recycling" them, as she puts it.

So -- with the help of the impoverished Nina and funky, spacey young coworker Jackie (Katie Holmes) -- Bridget concocts a complex plan to smuggle out the bills, involving garbage cans, security cameras, locks and big panties. And for a time, it seems their troubles are over -- but of course, as the flash-forward interrogations show, things are not going to just go smoothly for those who steal, even if the money is worn out.

In theory, "Mad Money" is a funny movie -- it has a plot that hasn't really been dealt with before, and any complex series of escapades inevitably offers room for comedy. But somehow "Mad Money" never gels into something really entertaining -- instead, I spent most of the seemingly endless plot waiting for something unexpected to happen. Occasionally, I chuckled reluctantly.

A lot of the blame for that lies on Callie Khouri's shoulders -- she skims over potentially funny moments, and tries to draw out extremely unfunny ones by padding them with unspeakably lame dialogue ("Is this an intervention?"). And despite its manic energy (throwing bills around the bedroom), the plot unfolds at a painfully sluggish pace, which only gets interesting near the crazy finale.

Nor do acting and characterization save the day. Keaton does a solid, slightly manic job as a desperate woman who feels she has no choice but to "recycle," although she's a bit too spoiled to be likable. Latifah plays the same feisty-sista role she's played in a dozen other movies, and a snarly-haired, blank-eyed Holmes demonstrates the acting range of a pair of dentures. But with more exposed teeth.

"Mad Money" has plenty of money shown, but very little madness. This manic yet somehow dull comedy had quite a bit going for it, but sinks under the weight of its unquirky, unfunny self.