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Owning Mahowny - Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin, Richard Kwietniowski
Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities
Movie propaganda
To some it's a game. To others it's a habit. But to Dan Mahowny - beating the odds is everything.
Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) was a rising star at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At 24 he was assistant manager of a major branch in the heart of Toronto's financial district. To his colleagues he was a workaholic. To his customers, he was astute, decisive and helpful. To his friends, he was a quiet but humorous man who enjoyed watching sports on television. To his girlfriend, he was shy but engaging. None of them knew the other side of Dan Mahowny - the side that executed the largest single-handed bank fraud in Canadian history, grossing over $10 million in 18 months to feed his gambling obsession.
Based on a true story.
Persons of interest
- Philip Seymour Hoffman .... Dan Mahowny
- Minnie Driver .... Belinda
- Maury Chaykin .... Frank Perlin
- John Hurt .... Victor Foss
- Sonja Smits .... Dana Selkirk
- Ian Tracey .... Detective Ben Lock
- Roger Dunn .... Bill Gooden
- Jason Blicker .... Dave Quinson
- Chris Collins .... Bernie
- Gary Stephen Ross .... Author: Stung: the incredible obsession of Brian Molony
- Maurice Chauvet .... Screenwriter
- Richard Kwietniowski .... Director
Cinematic intelligence sources
- Owning Mahowny official movie site
- Owning Mahowny movie trailers:
- QuickTime
- Awards and film festivals:
- Sundance Film Festival: Official selection
- Toronto International Film Festival: Official selection
- See also Croupier, The cooler, Catch me if you can
- Studios and distributors:
Intelligence analyst
Special Agent Matti
Theatrical report
What is it with Canadians ripping off Yanks?
In Shattered glass Hayden Christensen goes the big plagiarism to make his way in the big wide world. In Owning Mahowny Dan Mahowny takes the USA casinos for a big ride. Woo hoo!
The downside of Owning Mahowny is that Dan works in a bank. People who work in banks don't make for exciting movie characters. Sure, they can commit fraud to support their gambling addiction, but watching a teller filling out a withdrawal slip is hardly high drama. Gary Stephen Ross, Maurice Chauvet and Richard Kwietniowski do their best to make everything thrilling but you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal is downplayed, as you would expect from someone acting like a desk jockey, and it doesn't help any.
The upside is that the production values are so-o-o retro that you want to scream. Minnie Driver's hair is worth erasing the 80s all by itself. I laughed, even though I wasn't supposed to (Owning Mahowny is a period biography so the mise en scène has to be accurate).
*Shudders*
Security censorship classification
M (Low level coarse language, adult themes)
Surveillance time
105 minutes (1:45 hours)
Not for public release in Australia before date
Film: 1 July 2004
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