I bought the DVD for Julia Ormond. She played a really rotten character in this film, in contrast to her other efforts. I had never heard of Vince Vaughn before, I thought his performance was adequate.
This film is like something from an art-house. No attempt to have a hero or uplifting theme. The whole focus is on a group of very nasty people who never hesitate to turn on each other.
Other comments have noted the wordplay involved in the main character's name 'Penny Wise'. It must have been an inside joke for the screen writers to lighten their gloomy script.
The whole premise of the film left me somewhat confused. The Ed Harris character "Kelly Grant' is fresh out of jail and setting up a new operation in secret. He has to spend a lot of money to equip his new effort. First, he must sell himself as credible to his scammer crew. He flies them to a purported goldmine and equips his boiler room with lots of expensive computer equipment. Then he passes out rolls of cash to the successful scammers. That he can front such an expensive operation fresh out of prison seems incredible.
Then there is Julia Ormond's character 'Caitlin Carlson', 'Kelly Grant's' mistress and business partner. What was she up to while her man was in prison? She claims to be seeking a green card to stay in the USA, was she cooling her heels in Britain during 'Kelly Grant's' prison sentence? 'Caitlin' hooks up with 'Penny', initially one of the least successful scammers. She was such a mercenary character, that should have set off alarm bells in 'Penny's' brain.
The ending left me confused. 'Caitlin' has drained 'Penny's' bank account and skipped out. The boiler room has been cleaned out overnight and 'Kelly Grant' is nowhere around to pay his scammers their commissions on investments in the worthless gold mine. Did 'Caitlin' and 'Kelly' leave together or did 'Caitlin' take the money and move on free of 'Kelly'?
'Kelly Grant' had to realize that word of his betrayal of his scammer employees would leak out. No one would ever work for him again. He could only hope to get enough money from this operation to afford to retire permanently from scamming. This film never addressed what happened in this regard.
Real life is full of unanswered questions. So is this film. Perhaps, we are not seeking too much reality in our entertainment. Still, looking at the bleak personal lives of these characters, I feel grateful that I lead a normal life, the kind of people these scammers attempt to prey upon. In the end, all their schemes leave the scammers worse off than their victims.
This film is like something from an art-house. No attempt to have a hero or uplifting theme. The whole focus is on a group of very nasty people who never hesitate to turn on each other.
Other comments have noted the wordplay involved in the main character's name 'Penny Wise'. It must have been an inside joke for the screen writers to lighten their gloomy script.
The whole premise of the film left me somewhat confused. The Ed Harris character "Kelly Grant' is fresh out of jail and setting up a new operation in secret. He has to spend a lot of money to equip his new effort. First, he must sell himself as credible to his scammer crew. He flies them to a purported goldmine and equips his boiler room with lots of expensive computer equipment. Then he passes out rolls of cash to the successful scammers. That he can front such an expensive operation fresh out of prison seems incredible.
Then there is Julia Ormond's character 'Caitlin Carlson', 'Kelly Grant's' mistress and business partner. What was she up to while her man was in prison? She claims to be seeking a green card to stay in the USA, was she cooling her heels in Britain during 'Kelly Grant's' prison sentence? 'Caitlin' hooks up with 'Penny', initially one of the least successful scammers. She was such a mercenary character, that should have set off alarm bells in 'Penny's' brain.
The ending left me confused. 'Caitlin' has drained 'Penny's' bank account and skipped out. The boiler room has been cleaned out overnight and 'Kelly Grant' is nowhere around to pay his scammers their commissions on investments in the worthless gold mine. Did 'Caitlin' and 'Kelly' leave together or did 'Caitlin' take the money and move on free of 'Kelly'?
'Kelly Grant' had to realize that word of his betrayal of his scammer employees would leak out. No one would ever work for him again. He could only hope to get enough money from this operation to afford to retire permanently from scamming. This film never addressed what happened in this regard.
Real life is full of unanswered questions. So is this film. Perhaps, we are not seeking too much reality in our entertainment. Still, looking at the bleak personal lives of these characters, I feel grateful that I lead a normal life, the kind of people these scammers attempt to prey upon. In the end, all their schemes leave the scammers worse off than their victims.