Just as Congress ponders legislation to regulate Wall Street, “Casino Jack and the United States of Money” arrives to insinuate the irony in that idea. It’s like the wolf guarding the henhouse. Except everybody involved is a wolf in a system diabolically designed to incite carnivores.
If you go
‘Casino Jack and the United States of Money’
3 out of 5 Stars
Director: Alex Gibney
Rated R for some language
Running time: 123 minutes
Documentary producer, director, writer and narrator Alex Gibney lays out the murky, head-shaking details behind the scandals around now-jailed lobbyist “Casino” Jack Abramoff, the fortunes he raised from special interests and the influence he peddled through the highest levels of government. Abramoff was convicted in a case involving corruption, shakedowns, money laundering and collaborating with international lowlifes. It eventually brought down — to various degrees — notorious former Republican Majority Whip (and “Dancing With the Stars” alumnus) Tom DeLay, former Ohio Rep. Bob Ney and Ney aide-turned-Abramoff tool Neil Volz, among others.
The filmmaker gets these three to speak on the record in interviews woven through a serpentine chronicle of events that will be of most interest to political junkies. Unfortunately, though Gibney reportedly met with Abramoff in prison, authorities would not allow him to be filmed. This leaves a big hole in the documentary. There is too little sense, beyond external biographical information, of the deeper nature of the person at its center.
But Gibney isn’t trying to delve into the soul of a fallen man. He’s more interested in using the creepy particulars of the Abramoff story to exemplify how dependent politicians’ re-election campaigns are on the funds that lobbyists supply and how directly that affects legislation and real lives.
The most horrifying section involves human trafficking and sexual slavery by Chinese sweatshop owners on a U.S. commonwealth, the Pacific’s Mariana Islands. The film suggests that a number of congressmen accepted campaign contributions and tropical golf vacations in exchange for ignoring the issue.
Not only did Abramoff have alleged mob ties, the film contends he brokered shady deals involving Congress and the Bush White House and took money from Russian spies, a hate-spewing Malaysian ruler and numerous Indian tribes maintaining their lucrative casinos.
Actors Stanley Tucci and Paul Rudd provide voice-overs, acting out damning e-mails between Abramoff and his co-conspirator, former DeLay aide Michael Scanlon.
Abramoff’s former fellow College Republicans Karl Rove, Ralph Reed and Grover Norquist take some lumps as well. It’s a story so juicy that Kevin Spacey is starring in a fictionalized version, to be released later this year.
