They're very similar movies, all told, but while I own The Informer! on Blu-ray and have watched it at least half a dozen times (coincidentally, I'd just been watching it a week before seeing Casino Jack), I'd never sit through Hickenlooper's Casino Jack again. Both films feature well-known, reliable, likable actors turning in solid performances (though, to be fair, Soderbergh's film features better performances overall) both films have scripts that must have read really, really dry to most of the people that gave 'em a look despite the fact that both contain a fair amount of comedy both films end with their protagonist in prison. In fact, if I were teaching a class on 'How to Make an Entertaining Movie About a Topic Virtually No One Cares About', I'd make sure to offer up The Informer! as an example of what to do.and Casino Jack as an example of what to do when you want to induce a mass nap amongst your students. That was a movie built around shady, backroom deals, as well, but it worked in every way that Casino Jack doesn't. This, of course, led to a highly-publicized-but-in-no-way-surprising arrest, trial, and conviction, so for awhile there, the name 'Jack Abramoff' was synonymous with 'shady douchebag' much in the same way that the name 'Charlie Sheen' is now synonymous with 'drug-induced lunacy and megalomania': Abramoff was a pseudo-celebrity, so it was probably just a matter of time before someone turned his shady-ass life into a movie.Īctually, let's stop for a moment and talk about The Informer. See, Abramoff was using all manner of shady tactics to swing voters, legislation, and Washington fat-cats in whatever direction he wanted them to swing, and eventually he was busted being the shady douche that he was. He was a 'lobbyist'- and if there's a few things I can say I liked about Casino Jack, one of them is that the film really explains what it was that Jack Abramoff actually did (job-wise) very well- and he was a criminal, generally at the same time.

As you may or may not know by now, Jack Abramoff was one of the biggest douchebags in Washington, DC at a time when douchebags were clotting every street in that city.

Regurgitating the plot is necessary when reviewing films, but I confess that I'm absolutely dreading doing it here.

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