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There is rarely a dull
moment in the 100-odd minute duration of Mad Money,
AFTER seeing Diane Keaton in one of the worst performances of her career as the domineering, loquacious mother in Because I Said So, it is indeed refreshing to see her giving evidence of her comic talent in Mad Money, an enjoyable comedy, and the fact that she is ably supported by co-stars Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes makes her task easier and, of course, the clever handling of the main players by director Callie Khouri. When her husband is downsized from his job Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton) is forced to change her upper middle class lifestyle and rub shoulders with the near-downtrodden. Working as a lowly janitor in the Federal Reserve where worn out currency notes are being shredded, her companions are single mother Nina (Queen Latifah) and feisty Jackie (Katie Holmes) who is constantly gyrating to some unheard music so it doesn’t take her long to find out how the other or lower half of the world lives. It’s all about female camaraderie which looks like the popular theme in cinema these days. In Christian Mingui’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, which won the Golden Palm this year, it was two of them. Here it is three and an excellent variety of characters they are. The screenplay by Glen Gers too is liberally strewn with humour and some good one-liners (there’s a cute definition of sex) and when this trio put their heads together to make away with the money it gives rise to some hilarious situations. The characters too are well developed and in a way unpredictable but it contributes to the suspense and there is rarely a dull moment. Larceny was a popular subject in the 1970s but in this case it is a variation and though taken with more than a handful of salt it raises a point. Is it worth taking a risk instead of treading the straight narrow path? And is crime contagious? That it takes a dig at society is amply evident but it does so quite light-heartedly. But irreverence is the name of the game. One has to overlook the credibility aspect however, and it is the three women who keep the film together by coping with the problems that spring up every twist and turn in the plot. Not prizes for guessing the ending but Mad Money surely keeps the viewer going for all of its 100-odd minutes duration. When Hollywood is scraping the bottom of the barrel this one is surely worth a dekko, especially for the breezy performance by Katie Holmes.
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