While technically "Mad Money" is a comedy, it's certainly NOT a hilarious one....and it's just very mildly funny at times. And, as a crime film, it's not one of the more realistic or tense ones. As a result, I'd place this in the Time Passer category.
When the story begins, Don (Ted Danson) has lost his job and bills are piling up. As a result, Bridget (Diane Keaton) has to look for work...which is quite a shock as they had been quite wealthy up until this time. She is able to get a job working as a cleaning woman at the local Federal Reserve branch and through the course of working there, she comes up with an idea....to steal the money they would otherwise burn due to fatigue and tearing...something routinely done about every 18 months of a bill's life. But it can't be a one person job and she enlists the help of Nina (Queen Latifah) and Jackie (Katie Holmes). Complications ensue.
This is a film where how they commit the money skimming seems incredibly easy...something it really couldn't be in reality. But if you turn off your brain and just watch, it can be quite enjoyable.
Mad Money
2008
Action / Comedy / Crime / Thriller
Mad Money
2008
Action / Comedy / Crime / Thriller
Keywords: woman directorremakerobberymoneygang
Plot summary
Don and Bridget Cardigan's upper middle class lifestyle is threatened since Don, who has been out of work for a year, seems to have given up looking for a job, and housewife Bridget has been out of the workforce for most of her life. They are close to $300,000 in debt. Finding out this information, Bridget comes to the conclusion that she needs to get a job - any job - that at least provides them with some benefits. She reluctantly takes a job as a janitor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Almost immediately, Bridget is enthralled with all the old worn out money that is being shredded. She comes up with a plan to get her old lifestyle back by stealing much of that money, which she believes is an easy job since the locks used on the money carts are standard equipment and as she notices that no one ever checks the garbage as she goes about her work. Her plan needs the cooperation of one person who works the shredder and one person who pushes the carts of money. The two people she co-opts are single mom Nina Brewster and diabetic, trailer living and constant music listening Jackie Truman. Jackie is easy to convince, but Nina is only convinced when Bridget brings it to her attention that the money would allow her to provide a better education to her two bright sons. Nina vows to kill Bridget if she ever loses her children because of this scheme. As the three woman progress with the plan, it is threatened by: the bank's head of security, a man named Glover, who believes it is impossible to steal money from the reserve; another security guard at the reserve named Barry who seems to be attracted to Nina; Jackie's working class husband Bob who is not used to having money; Don, a conservative man who can't understand being on the wrong side of the law; and Bridget herself who seems to be increasingly focused on getting more and more money with no end in sight, which seems to be diverging from the priorities of her two accomplices.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Pleasant viewing, it could have been a lot funnier.
Too light and fluffy
Don Cardigan (Ted Danson) tells his wife Bridget (Diane Keaton) that he's been fired for awhile and are $286k in debt. She can only get a janitor's job at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. She's amazed at the sight of all the money, and comes up with a scheme to steal the old cash with her fellow workers Jackie Truman (Katie Holmes) and Nina Brewster (Queen Latifah).
Katie Holmes could have been in 'The Dark Knight' instead of this. There is just something very simplistic and unrealistic about the scheme. The movie is so light and fluffy. The girls should be much more serious. And the movie starts off at the end so that there is no danger of getting caught until that point. This should be a much more thrilling movie that it actually is, and it isn't funny as a comedy.
Nitwit star-vehicle...a "bad economy" comedy full of bad ideas
Strapped upper-class housewife in Kansas City is forced to take a janitorial job at the Federal Reserve Bank where old paper money is destroyed; she gets an idea of how to reserve some of that cash for herself, and enlists two co-workers to help her. Haphazardly-conceived narrative is nitwit comedy one minute, heist drama the next. Diane Keaton comes up with the scheme, which viewers are hardly privy to (she buys a lock and looks something up on the internet); Queen Latifah warns her not to spend any of the money, but a few scenes earlier is seen enrolling her child in a prestigious school and offering to donate a large sum to the library. None of it coheres, and only the scenes set in the Federal Reserve building contain any visual interest. The three leads (Keaton, Latifah, and Katie Holmes) are meant to be portraying lovable losers looking for a break, but all we can see is that they are greedy mercenaries. *1/2 from ****