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To his friends and coworkers in Toronto, Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour
Hoffman) is just a normal guy. He works in a bank, where he’s recently been promoted to
the branch’s assistant manager. He’s drives an old car, and he lives in an apartment
with his girlfriend, Belinda (an almost unrecognizable Minnie Driver). He’s a
mild-mannered guy who wears big glasses and tacky suits.
Dan Mahowny is
also a compulsive gambler whose extreme and unlikely bets ($1,000 on each game—all the
home teams in the National League, and all the away teams in the American League) get him
into serious financial trouble. With nowhere else to turn, Dan starts creating phantom
loans at the bank and borrowing off other customers’ huge lines of credit. And each
weekend, he flies to Atlantic City to try to make it all back and pay off his
debt.
To the people in the casino in Atlantic City, Dan Mahowny is a
mysterious high roller. He shows up, cashes in tens of thousands of dollars, and
completely ignores the comps he’s given—the expensive suites, the tickets to shows, the
free meals. Dan’s just there to gamble—to get the money back before it catches up to
him.
Based on a true story, Owning Mahowny is a suspenseful film
that will keep you on your toes. It’s never a question of if he’ll get caught.
You know he does—you see it in the first scene. The question is when (and
how) he’ll get caught. Each time you think it’s all over—that there’s no possible
way he’ll pull it off—Dan gets lucky. Despite a few cheesy Canadian stereotypes thrown
in (like Dan listening to the hockey game in his car while eating a donut), Owning
Mahowny is a great film. Hoffman plays the part extremely well—and the story is
especially fascinating (and perplexing) because it’s true. This one’s definitely worth
watching.
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