Looking for a fun and witty heist film? Mad Money is not it. As I left the theater I felt nonplussed. For a film marketed as a fun time, it has a remarkable lack of fun.
There is no reason this movie should not have been an absolute blast. Seriously. What was going on during the writing phase that made them forget to inject any entertainment? Maybe they got hung up on using the plot as a road map and forgot that they could safely diverge in order to give the audience something to like.
Mad Money uses the tried and true framing device of the flashback. Right from the get-go, we know that the protagonists are going to get caught, because they already have been. This device has often worked well, but in the hands of better filmmakers with better scripts. A key to effectively using the flashback as a frame is a plot twist or turn, some revelation that makes it seem more than a device. Unfortunately, Mad Money has none of the necessary elements. So, rather than an interesting plot, we are left with the straightforward caper/comedy as presented.
The film may be categorized as a caper/comedy, but it does not deliver on either half of the term. The caper is uninteresting and the comedy is nearly non-existent. It is a shame, too, since the general idea, and the cast, headlined by Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes, would seem to hold a lot of promise.
The story, such as it is, centers on Bridget Cardigan (Keaton), who has a well-to-do husband (Ted Danson) and lives a comfortable, storybook life. A wrench is thrown into the works when he is downsized and Bridget is forced to take a janitorial position at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, where old money is disposed of. Having seen all that soon-to-be shredded cash and spotted in Home Depot a lock matching the one used on the money carts, Bridget, with her needs for funds, gets an idea.
For her plan to work, Bridget needs a couple of accomplices, played by Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. Now, with a shredder, a "cart girl," and Keaton's janitor, they have all the pieces needed to appropriate some of that soon to be destroyed loot for their personal recycling.
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