Owning Mahowny

Herald rating: * * *

Owning Mahowny is the story of Dan Mahowny, a nicely mannered, unremarkable guy who manages to embezzle $10.2 million from the bank where he works to support his gambling habit. It's an extraordinary tale of a real addict, and how far one man will go to feed his addiction.

Set in 1982 when the economy is booming, and before banks tightened up rules governing access and control of multimillion-dollar accounts, Dan Mahowny is a man on the way up.

Slightly nerdy, socially self-conscious, but with a head for figures, Mahowny is well respected by his peers and bosses. What his colleagues and his girlfriend don't realise is that he has a weakness for gambling.

When local loan sharks come looking for an unpaid debt, Dan makes the decision to pay it off by siphoning money from one of the accounts he runs. Once he gets going there's no stopping him, and what starts as a few grand becomes, amazingly, many millions.

Mahowny really believes he can gamble his way out of the mess he's gotten himself into.

He is a true gambler, and refuses to indulge in any of the perks offered by the casinos. Beautiful hotel suites and hookers go unappreciated as Dan believes nothing should distract him from the bet; it's the thrill of the bet he lives for.

Watching Owning Mahowny can be excruciating at times. As Mahowny slowly sacrifices his job, his girlfriend and his future you know the ending is going to be grim. The 80s fashion is also harrowing. Minnie Driver is almost unrecognisable as Dan's co-worker and girlfriend Belinda, and with her large glasses and bad hair she looks like she is having a ball reviving everything tragic about the early 80s.

Hoffman always throws himself into the role he is playing, and although he puts in a convincing performance here, he is let down by the fact that the film doesn't try to explain what drives his character to gamble his life away.

Rather than an insight into an addict's mind, Owning Mahowny is a grim warning about the dangers of gambling.

CAST: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, John Hurt
DIRECTOR: Richard Kwietniowski
RUNNING TIME: 105 mins
RATING: M (low-level offensive language)
SCREENING: Village and Rialto Cinemas