Themes: Unlikely Criminals, Gambling, Cons and Scams
Main Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Maury Chaykin, John Hurt, Sonja Smits, Ian Tracey
Release Year: 2003
Country: UK/CA/US
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A seemingly ordinary bank employee develops an obsession that could destroy his life and that of those around him in this drama. Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a quiet, unassuming employee of a bank in Toronto; he lives modestly, drives a used car, and is dating one of the bank's tellers, a sweet but mousy girl named Belinda (Minnie Driver). What no one knows is that Dan has a secret life -- Dan is a compulsive gambler, and after running up massive debts with his bookie Frank Perlin (Maury Chaykin), he begins making regular visits to Atlantic City in the United States, where he often bets (and loses) far beyond his means. Dan's expertise at the bank is rewarded with a promotion to assistant manager; his new responsibilities include approving loans, which gives him the authority to transfer funds in and out of the bank. Needing to cover his debts, Dan starts approving loans to non-existent clients and adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to other accounts, and Victor Fox) (John Hurt), manager of Dan's favorite Atlantic City casino, is more than happy to "help" Dan, comping him to luxury suites and all the attendant amenities and working with him to transfer bank funds into his casino account. As Dan's debts begin to grow into the seven figure range, his dealings become harder to hide, both from the authorities and from Belinda, who has become aware of Dan's addiction to gambling but doesn't know just how far it's grown. Based on a true story, Owning Mahowny was directed by Richard Kwietniowski, who previously worked with John Hurt in the acclaimed Love and Death on Long Island. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
In 1982, a Toronto bank employee Dan Mahowny (Hoffman) is given access to bigger and bigger accounts with his promotion to assistant branch manager. His boss trusts him, but what he doesn't know is Mahowny is a compulsive gambler. And soon he's skimming larger and larger amounts for his own use and making weekly trips to Atlantic City, where he's treated more like a king by a greedy casino manager (Hurt) with every additional thousand he lays down on the table. Meanwhile, his girlfriend, fellow bank employee Belinda (Driver), can't understand what's happening, and the wheels go into motion at the bank when the first missing amount is uncovered.
The movie's focus is on Mahowny as a character - how his compulsion drives him and all the domino effects it has on the rest of his life. The love story between Mahowny and Belinda and the inclusion of other finely drawn characters such as hapless casino employee Bernie (Chris Collins) put the emphasis squarely on the gamblingaddiction, not on the flash and sizzle of big casinos or multi-million-dollar frauds.
Film critic Rogert Ebert [1] named Owning Mahowny one of the top ten films of 2003.
The real-life story
Owning Mahowny is based on a real-life incident: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce clerk Brian Molonyembezzled over $10 million from his employers in just 18 months to support his gambling habit. Molony's story was told in the best-selling 1987 book Stung by journalist Gary Ross, which formed the basis for the screenplay.
In an interview on the web site of Stung publishers McClelland and Stewart, Ross says he has kept in touch with Molony and updated what happened to him after the events portrayed in the movie. Molony served six years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. He has not gambled since his arrest, has married his girlfriend (Belinda in the movie), has three sons and works as a financial consultant.
