Casino Jack and the United States of Money - C

In theaters. Rated R, 118 minutes. Trailer.

Directed by Alex Gibney, the acclaimed director of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, Casino Jack and the United States of Money tells the surprisingly boring story of infamous lobbyist and politico Jack Abramoff. As a political junkie and major fan of wonky documentaries, this was right in my wheelhouse, yet it barely kept me awake. Gibney starts with Abramoff's nerdy college Republican days (along with Ralph Reed, Karl Rove and Grover Norquist) and tracks his life and rise in DC all the way to his prison term. Click below for on CJ:


Abramoff is shown to be a great salesman with weak morals, but I didn't feel outrage like several people in the audience did. The most interesting interviews are with Neil Volz, former chief of staff for the convicted former Congressman Bob Ney. Ney took lots of money from Abramoff and his clients and basically sold his influence and got caught for it.

The film is sluggish throughout, and Gibney doesn't break ANY new ground or come up with any insights that a well-read person hasn't already realized. This might be more entertaining for someone that doesn't know as much about politics as I do or isn't as cynical as I am and thinks the political system isn't corrupted by money.

Yawn.

Side Note: Very weird separated at birth alert: Guillermo Del Toro and Grover Norquist: