Owning Mahowny 

Owning Mahowny is a gentle movie about a Toronto bank manager who is a gambling addict. Like all addictions this one too can make or break a man, the man in question, the bank manager is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman. There is not any adrenaline pumping drama, considering the fact that most of the scenes take place in Atlantic City and Las Vegas in addition to Toronto. It is a character study of an ordinary man, with access to the large sums of money - although illegaly and who channels it to meet his unsatiable addiction with black jack, craps and the such. The pluspoint of the movie is that it is based on real life events, which negatively implies not many high speed car chases and tecnically perfect cons.

Hoffman is brilliant as Mahowny, Minnie Driver in a blonde wig plays his girlfriend - nothing much for her to do in that part. Its fun to know how the casino bosses deal with high rollers such as Hoffman and how much hand luck really has in the whole business of gambling. A comparitvely good movie with no extra gloss.