January is well known as the time for the movie makes to churn out piece after piece that is…let’s say…not…good. Mad Money, by director Calle Khouri, may be different than the rest though, even it is far from a masterpiece. The story is about Bridget Cardigan (Diane Keaton). She is a pampered housewife who must now find a way to support her lifestyle after her husband lost his job. This takes her to the Federal Reserve Bank located in Kansas City. It is known specifically as the place where all the old money is destroyed.

Life in the bank isn’t that satisfying, so she forms a new plan to steal some of these bills, even though it is shown to be practically impossible. She forms a new idea though. “Crime is contagious” in her mind, specifically, she thinks that it is possible to pass criminal inspiration onto her fellow workers, Jackie and Nina (Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah).

Her plan is flawed from the start though. She fails to see that she doesn’t infect them, but simply forces them into agreement. Bridget leads the entire racket without any concern for right or wrong and without even acknowledging the negative effects that it has on everyone around her (especially her husband, Ted Danson, who seems to really love the part).

Mad Money uses the old technique of starting at the end and then working through all of the criminals’ interrogations to piece the whole thing together. The tension is maintained since we all know that they’ll be caught by the end of the movie, we just can’t figure out how it happened.

Khouri does alright with the comedy scenes. Only Jackie’s husband (Adam Rothenberg) seems to be an over the top character. Most of the humour will come simply through situations that the three women get themselves into. By the end of the movie, you may have a few laughs, but you will feel empty towards the actors. None of three women are interesting enough to actually warrant any concern. Nina is the only one who has a real concern (she will lose her kids) but it never really seems real. None of it seems to really matter and you won’t find anything compelling or fascinating about the main characters.

Mad Money is also average from the standpoint of production. The script is an average piece flung together by four writers (Glenn Gers as the lead writer). You won’t be surprised and there isn’t anything that will throw you off the obvious path. Overall, it is just average. The performances are not good, but not bad either. Keaton is surprisingly off in this film. Her character makes little sense as a smooth criminal in a federal crime that can’t stay calm when there’s any small hiccup. Latifah is uncharacteristically calm and weak while Holmes is just too much. No one is in a logical balance. The soundtrack is even a drab affair with a bunch of random picks that all concern money.

In the end, everyone in the theatre laughed at the good parts and seemed somewhat happy with the unsatisfying ending. It is somewhat bothersome that there is no concern for the legal, moral, and ethical issues that this movie glossed over. Is it symbolic that a movie’s heroes rob the US government and get away with it? Whatever this means, I don’t think it is a good statement on our society.