Owning Mahowny (2003)

I'm not sure that it was a fantastic movie, but it really sticks with me. I gamble quite a bit too, and I regularly see Mahoney-like behaviours at the casino. The guy next to me the other day started with $200, then went up, in my eyes undeservingly, to about $2500, and finally lost it all in a matter of half an hour. The entire time completely without expression, like a gambler, like Mahoney. No matter what happens to a gambler in the short term, he knows that it is ephemeral. Unfortunately, the ephemeral losses are a bit bigger than the ephemeral wins, and the cumulative loss is what you are stuck with in the end.

I liked the way that Mahoney was so boring. As though the things that make life interesting for the average person and the things that make the average person interesting all pale in his eyes to the passionate communion that he has with the game.

Fmovies: I suppose if anyone locally wants a cautionary tale about the ills of obsessive and compulsive gambling, they can look no further than Owning Mahowny, which is based on the true story of Canadian Brian Molony, who had embezzled more than 10 million dollars from the bank he works for, to fund his primary vice. It's a modest little film with functional production values that go straight to the point, where you can tell that director Richard Kwietniowski probably didn't have plenty of cash to splurge on recreating glitzy sets, but that actually is very much with the psyche of the character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

We have our fair share of white collar criminals from clerks to the top of the food chain such as the chief financial officer of a major local brewery whose addiction and crime committed was fairly similar to the one portrayed here, with the use of privileged position to get credit, or manipulate something out of nothing from the abuse of procedural loopholes and basic level trust, and being treated like the whales that casinos roll out the red carpet for. Up until this day we have fraud cases from charities to government linked companies, so it goes to show that there are still those out there who aren't savvy to these crooks, or just plain complacent about it, adopting the "it can't happen here" attitude.

Hoffman plays Dan Mahowny, a frugal man who lives modestly despite his recent promotion at a bank he works in, and being the representative behind large customer accounts. There's one thing that his employer doesn't know, and that's his gambling habit, which grows into a problem and an obsession while they recognize him as a whiz. We observe how he graduates from small time gambling on sports scores, finding himself owing money to the gambling joint operated by small timer Frank Perlin (Maury Chaykin), before mounting debts forces Dan to try to bail himself out through the bank's loopholes, and the abuse of his trusted position in the organization to get credit extended to phantom accounts he creates. His non threatening demeanour also allows for gaining the trust of auditors even, the kind whom you want to slap around for not doing their job thoroughly and conscientiously.

In any case, through fraudulent means of obtaining hard cash, Dan fuels a growing problem, and graduates into making weekend trips across the border to Atlantic City, where he can gamble almost incognito until his spending, and losing, habit catches the attention of the casino's manager Victor Foss (John Hurt) and herein lies the other half of the fun watching this film, that of the strategies employed by casinos to hook their whales, and to ensure their continued return through whatever means possible. Accommodation gets upgraded, on the house food and drinks, and even women become part of the heady game to ensure the long term patronage of their best customer.

When I was in Vegas, a driver once told me that it's an illusion to think that you can win big at the casinos. All you have to do is to look at the size of the hotels and overheads it has to cover, and you'd know whether you'd have a remote chance of winning. If everyone can do it all the time, the shop might as well close, rather than to rake in record profits. It's a mathematical game where in the long run, the house is bound to win statistically, so to anyone seemingly winning at the tables, statistics is on the casino's side to win, so long as they employ strategies to keep you around

Every once and while, film buffs get a treat. Amongst all the crash and burn violence and volume of the summer blockbusters, every once and while, a movie will sneak under the radar and capture our attention.

Owning Mahowny didn't get much of a theatrical release. Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, the film never played on more than 24 screens and earned only a fraction of the minute $10 million budget. But here is your chance to find it in the lonely ‘O' section of your local DVD retailer.

The movie is based on the true story of Dan Mahowny (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a mid-level bank official that has a gambling problem. Dan will bet on almost anything and his addiction would result in a financial hole not easily climbed. It is here that Dan begins to use his title at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to fraudulently steal money for week-end trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Over his eighteen month spree, Dan was able to gamble over $10 million of the banks dollars.

The film follows Dan through the initial stages of his addiction and careful details his interaction with Vegas hotel staff, co-workers and his girlfriend as he feeds his desires while keeping his compulsion secret. As he falls deeper into the casino's pockets, the hotel owners fall deeper in love with his freelance style, and Dan is soon treated with celebrity like status upon every visit. However, eventually, the police begin to piece the missing money together and the result is the uncovering of the biggest one-man bank fraud to ever hit the Canadian borders.

Owning Mahowny is a terrific film largely in part to the incredible acting performance by Hoffman. As Dan Mahowny, Hoffman is able to portray an insatiable gambler who is ignorant to his surroundings when at the card table. His stare at the table and lack of emotional response, either for the good or the bad, is incredibly parlayed by Hoffman's sweat and stature. A scene where Mahowny takes his girlfriend to Vegas but quickly ignores and forgets her once he is in front of a blackjack table is unforgettable.

Owning Mahowny is not without its good supporting cast either, including John Hurt (Alien) as the Casino owner that takes a shine to Mahowny and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) as his girlfriend. Both show us the contrast between someone who doesn't want to know how he does it and loves him for it and the other who can't seem to get to know the man she loves.

Like 1999's Rogue Trader, it is scary to see the loopholes exploited by bank or financial institution employees in these true stories brought to the big screen. It both movies, you see how one man with the access to large amounts of money can easily get over their own head and dig themselves deeper and deeper into a whole, yet they are always thinking they are one bet or one trade away from righting the wrong.

Owning Mahowny was one of the best films of 2003, and should not be missed. Storytelling doesn't get any better than this.

Owning Mahowny fmovies. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is without a doubt the best independent actor making movies today. I first fell for him when he played the Jaw Dropping low life shady character Allen in Happiness, and since then his career has only gotten brighter (or darker?). He personifies "creep", and in roles like the mattress man from Punch Drunk Love, I find myself wanting to reach through the screen and strangle him. Of course, he does it again in Owning Mahoney as Dan Mahoney a young assistant manager at a Toronto bank who uses other people's funds to repay debts and feed his gambling addiction. My dissatisfaction rises as he becomes more audacious and gambles away more and more of his misbegotten cash. You will find yourself yelling "QUIT NOW!!" at the screen, but his only reply will be "but i just got here". Dan Mahoney is possibly the simplest and most complex character I've seen Hoffman tackle. Is it the love of gambling that drives him to play $70,000 hands?? No, his facial expressions don't change from when he's up 9 million, to when he's gambled away his last $500 chip. His addiction has no purpose, it's almost as if he is doing this simply to survive. Hoffman wasn't the only gem in this picture, he was coupled with Minnie Driver who was almost unidentifiable with her dark rimmed glasses and bleached blonde hair (and not a bad Canadian accent eh?). It's too bad this film will probably only be seen by true independent film/Hoffman fans because it's intense and gripping. A slice of someone's life destroyed by addiction, this is a must see!

"Owning Mahoney" tells of a bank account manager and pathological gambler who lives from one wager to the next on a collision course with oblivion. A powerful and compelling tour de force by Hoffman - who once again proves he ranks among the actor's actors with the likes of Brando, Pacino, and Nicholson - this engrossing film claims to be a true story of a man, money, and an obsession of remarkable proportions. A worthwhile watch for Hoffman fans and anyone into character studies, particularly of obsessive-compulsive types. All others stay away. (A-)

Canadian movies- especially those made with taxpayers' dollars- have always bored me. But "Owning Mahowny" broke the mold, and is a mesmerizing exception to the rule. I am amazed this film did not meet with more popular success, given the critical acclaim it received.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of the bland and somewhat shabby banker who embezzled 10 million to support his gambling addiction is spot on. I can say this with some authority since I knew "Mahowny" personally back in high school, where his predilection for the racetrack and for fleecing junior students at cards was legendary. The seedy clothes, the clunker car, and the repressed demeanor all ring true. Kudos to Hoffman for a riveting performance.

Gambling movies (The Cincinnati Kid, The Hustler) have by and large ignored the addiction angle. This film delivers- in spades.