Even Money

Crime, Drama

Kim Basinger	Carol Carver
Danny DeVito	Walter
Kelsey Grammer	Detective Brunner
Nick Cannon	Godfrey Snow
Ray Liotta	Tom Carver
Forest Whitaker	Clyde Snow
Carla Gugino	Veronica
Grant Sullivan	Murph
Jay Mohr	Augie
Cassandra Hepburn	Claudia
Tim Roth

Director	Mark Rydell
Producer	Henry Boger; Rita Branch; David S. Greathouse; Mark Rydell; Danny DeVito
Writer	Robert Tannen
Cinematography	Robbie Greenberg
Musician	Dave Grusin
User Credit 1	Hughes Winborne
User Credit 2	Wendy Chuck

In the movie “End Game”, the President is assassinated while under the protection of Secret Service agent Alex Thomas (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who takes a bullet through the hand, but suffers even more from personal guilt. Enter reporter Kate Crawford (Angie Harmon), whose investigation leads her to believe a conspiracy is about to occur. After a failed hit on his life and , Thomas quickly becomes a believer, but as we all know, realizing that there is a conspiracy and proving it are two entirely different matters. This movie is directed by Andy Cheng. It stars, far removed from his Oscar winning role in “Jerry Maguire”, Cuba Gooding Jr. is a action star, chasing after bad guys with steely determination and leaping out of ponds with weapon in hand with the best of them. Former “Law and Order” babe Angie Harmon’s Kate Crawford plays the comedic sidekick to Gooding’s straight man. The bad guys, led by perennial menacing henchman Peter Greene. Although not a full-fledged A-list Hollywood production, “End Game” does have a number of cameos, most notably James Woods as the head of the Secret Service, and Burt Reynolds.

The lure of easy cash drives the interlocking storylines of Easy Money, an all-star tale of gamblers, bookies, and gangsters. The movie draws together a blocked novelist addicted to the slots (Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential), a magician on the skids (Danny DeVito, Get Shorty), a bookie with stress-induced stomach problems (Jay Mohr, Jerry Maguire), a debt-ridden plumber (Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland) who persuades his basketball-playing brother (Nick Cannon, Love Don't Cost a Thing) to shave points, and a gangster by turns mincing and menacing (Tim Roth, Reservoir Dogs). Tying them all together is a murder investigation conducted by a detective on crutches (an unrecognizable Kelsey Grammer, X-Men: The Last Stand). Even Money never achieves the raw, spontaneous energy of a Robert Altman movie (clearly an influence) or the social complexity of Crash (produced by the same company), but individual scenes and actors (particularly Whitaker as he twists his brother's affection to perverse ends) have an impact. Unfortunately, the movie never grips the viewer with the rush of winning or the knife-twist of losing; without that visceral punch, Even Money feels inauthentic and a little preachy. Also featuring Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) as Basinger's long-suffering husband and Carla Gugino (Snake Eyes) as a nurse in love with a brutal debt collector. --Bret Fetzer

Forest Whitaker, Kim Basinger, Danny Devito, Kelsey Grammer and Ray Liotta star in director Mark Rydell's ensemble addiction drama detailing the manner in which gambling and drugs affect a variety of people's lives during the weeks leading up to a championship college basketball game.