Owning Mahowny is a wonderfull movie that shows without any superfluous ornaments gambling addiction. This picture has been shot based on famous book describing real story. Plot is about Canadian bank vice-chairman, who has embezzled over 10 million dollars during two years time. He needs this money for gambling. Every day he is gray person, but in the night he turn himself into compulsive gambler who is losing enormous amounts of money in the Atlantic City casinos.
However this movie is no really about how the police noose tightens around main characters neck. This movie is a study of a man, a study of his addiction, how his weakness destroying him from inside. If you want understand Dan Mahowny (great Philip Seymour Hoffman) you have to “wear” his skin, and find out what is the feeling when you are losing huge amounts of money every night in the casino, playing blackjack or roulette. For Mahowny gambling is the casinos is a passion that turns itself into obsession. Game is the most important thing to him, something like oxygen, he can’t live without it. He thinks this way.
Best casino in Atlantic City is a home for him, where he feels great and where he is treated like a king. This is so addictive and wonderfull. When he finally got captured and psychologist ask him to evaluate on a scale of 1 to 100 exhilaration or excitement, which gives him gamble, his answer is with no doubt, 100. When he ask Mahowny about second most excited thing in his life , Mahowny gave this thing only 20 points.
Owning Mahowny is not one of good movies, that shows how main character is overcoming his addiction and winning. This picture shows how Dan Mahowny is sinking in his addiction to the end, when he is imprisoned for few years. This movie is about addiction, it could be about drug addiction, alcohol addiction or sex addiction either. For Mahowny, winning or losing does not matter, even money does not count for him. The most important think to this person is risk and this wonderfully feeling when he is playing for millions of dollars. He know that he will lost everything at the end, but he don’t care, risk and game is most important to him.
The movie begins, when Mahowny’s debt is only ten thousand dollars at local bookmaker. Book is cutting Mahowny off betting until he will return all money. Mahowny falls into desperation, because he can’t meet his gambling needs. He is starting to make many false transaction in his bank, because he needs money for gambling. During his vacation in Las Vegas, his girlfriend starting to think that Dan has big problem with gambling. Nobody can see that, except her. Dan is really good in hiding his addiction. In his work, Mahowny is considered to be a good employee, he is very good banker, because he can hide is activity from bank auditors. Finally he is even promoted and get access to really large amounts of money. This cannot end good.
In this movie, there is shown also a dark side of the casino industry. Big casinos don’t really care about the source of the money and do anything to milk players totally. All in the casinos is made that way to make players more confident and aggressive in play, beginning from free food, alcohol even to prostitutes and pumped oxygen in the casino lobby. All is prepared specially to lure and milk completely all the players inside. Who knows, if Mahowny would play in the online casino he would not end that way.
The movie has become a big success, because of the incredible acting. Of course best actor in this film is with no doubt fantastic Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is probably his best creation of all time. He deserves for an Oscar prize.
A story about a man being in the embrace of the addiction is certainly not easy to watch like for example “The Baywatch”. However, this film is very powerful and instructive. First, because it understands the nature of addiction and does not try to spice it in any way or “soften” it to be easier in the perception for the viewer, and secondly does not avoid liability and idiom, exudes a happy ending. Adding to this great Philip Seymour Hoffman, we get a really great movie worth seeing.
