"Casino Jack" is the story of a government scandal, something we've become quite used to in this country. It was George Hickenlooper's last film. I'm not sure if the distribution was limited, but this movie lost money big time, and it didn't cost that much to start. There is also a documentary on this same subject.Kevin Spacey stars as Jack Abramoff, a lobbyist turned criminal, as if what he was doing wasn't criminal enough, though legal. The film also features Barry Pepper, Jon Lovitz, Rachel Lefevre, Kelly Preston, and Maury Chaykin.Abramoff (Spacey), who was staying within legal bounds as a lobbyist, gets greedy and with his business partner Mike Scanlon (Pepper) starts taking exorbitant fees from various Indian tribes supposedly to help them with their casino businesses. Of course, these were rival casinos and besides the fact that he was taking more than the legal limit of money, it was conflict of interest to work for several tribes. Abramoff uses the money to open restaurants, a school for Jewish children, buy a fabulous home, all kinds of things.The idea behind lobbying is that special interest groups - say, an Indian casino, pays a lobbyist who in turn pays congressmen to help smooth the way for the special interest via passage of laws, getting licensing, things of that sort. I don't know, I would call those bribes. Washington calls it lobbying. In one scene, Abramoff flies a bunch of politicos someplace and shows them a good time. We pay for that, by the way.When a front man is needed, Abramoff turns to a mattress salesman (Lovitz) to help make a deal. Major, major trouble is the result. Abramoff ultimately is under investigation, his good friend, Senator Tom Delay, has to resign from the Senate, and the subpoenas start coming.Kevin Spacey is excellent as the confident, charming, aggressive Abramoff, who thinks he has a lot of friends in high places. It's a big performance. Someone commented that they saw Abramoff interviewed and he seemed quite different from Spacey. Well, Abramoff was in prison at the time and I imagine by then he was quite different. Spacey met him and I have to assume picked up some characteristics from him. Barry Pepper is also top notch as the sleazy Mike Scanlon, whose massive infidelities cause a huge problem for both himself and Abramoff.Jon Lovitz I think was miscast. How could anyone think this idiot could make a huge business deal? The character should have at least seemed like he could do a deal of that nature. The way Lovitz played it, no one would take him seriously - and that includes Abramoff.This is a pretty sobering look at how our government is run, and frankly, it sucks. When Abramoff is supposed to testify before a committee, he fantasizes calling the committee a bunch of hypocrites. He was right. To hell with the public interest, where's my money.

***SPOILERS***The film "Casino Jack" chronicles the life and times as well as crimes of super D.C political lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Kevin Spacey, who's feelings of invincibility came crashing down on him together with the gallery of crooks who aligned themselves with him."Rabbi" Jack himself got off pretty easy by spending less then four years behind bars in a federal prison where he, being an orthodox Jew, gave Jewish religious services and thought screen writing, in him being involved with the movie industry, to his fellow inmates.We get to see Jack at the start of the movie being booked photographed fingerprinted and sent to the lock-up with his biggest shock is that there's no kosher food being served to the Jewish, as well as Muslim, prisoners like himself which seemed to bother Jack more then anything else. In fact what we soon see in a number of flashbacks is that the dealings that Jack had on the outside in stiffing his clients out of as much as 70 million dollars were anything but kosher themselves! Together with his parters in crime Michael Scanlon, Barry Pepper, and mattress mogul Adam Kian, Jon Lovitz, Jack stiffed as many people as Berney Madoff did but got a fraction of Madoff's ill gotten gain. As well as him getting a fraction, 3 1/2 to 150 years, of the time behind bars that Madoff got!Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff really lets it all hang out in his Academy Award caliber,every bit as good as "The Usual Suspect" and "All American Beauty", performance as the slippery as an eel lobbyist who ended up destroying not only his innocent victims but those slimy creeps who worked together with him lives. Not only did Jack bring himself down but also his good born again Christian friend and benefactor Congressional Majority leader Tom "The Exterminator" DeLay, Spencer Garrett, whom beside being involved with him in robbing a number of Native American Indian Tribes blind in after taking their millions for getting them gaming licenses and not delivering but pushing modern day slavery legislation in Sipan in the Mariana Islands! That's by having the right to put the "Made In America" label, the islands where under US Government control, on the products being produced there.What really lead to Jack & Co. downfall was their own greed in never having enough and feeling that no matter how deep in the hole they get there always will be someone around to bail them out. It's when Jack's stealing and covering up go so out of control that it even lead to the Mafia style murder of one of his biggest clients Greek shipping mogul Gus Boulis, Daniel Kash. That lead straight to Adam Kidan who had the mob whack Boulis in revenge of him viciously attacking Kidan with a ballpoint pen. It's that senseless action which started the domino's to fall and put all of Jack's future plans on ice or like himself in cold storage! P.S Hilarious final with Jack on trial for his crimes in a dream sequence dreaming of himself as being actor Al Pacino in the movie "And Justice for All" as he stops invoking the 5th Amendment and then lets his accusers the members of the US Senate & Congress have it! Telling them in open court on live TV and radio just what a bunch of phony lying and sanctimonious frauds they are in taking his pay-off money and looking the other way when he committed his many crimes in that they should be right there on trial together with him!

Kevin Spacey delivers a wonderful performance as lobbyist Jack Abramoff, caught in a web of deception, corruption and utter mayhem extending up the ladder in the Washington hierarchy of government.He is equally matched by Barry Pepper, who gives a tumultuous performance as his cohort in crime, Michael Scanlon.The film shows the corruption of government officials as well and depicting Abramoff's greed for his downfall. Again, the Indians, as has been done in the past, are exploited for just about all they're worth. Politics in the film was never dirtier as shown by the senators up to their necks in accepting bribes so as to pass legislation favorable to Abramoff and his cronies.Everyone here seems to use religion as an outlet or as a way to justify what is going on.

Kevin Spacey portrays the real tale of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was involved in a massive corruption scandal that included fraud, conspiracy, and tax evasion. The late director George Hickenlooper has brought a movie that contains everything you expect to see, and he helps bring a good vision of Jack's life. Kevin Spacey is just phenomenal as Jack Abramoff, with his quirky dialouge to his charming satisfaction, Spacey is the perfect actor to play this role for many reasons. Kelly Preston is just wonderful as Spacey's wife, even though she had a limited number of scenes in the movie, she blows away in the scenes that she is in. Jon Lovitz and Barry Pepper rounds up the cast, and they both did great performances in this movie. Now although the plot is historically incorrect at times, it's really interesting to watch on screen. George Hickenlooper provides a unique directing duty, and he really improves. But once again, it's Kevin Spacey that steals the whole movie. He's classy, he's charming, he's funny, and he always deliver perfect powerful performances. A brilliant script, an incredible cast, and a perfect director is all that's needed to make "Casino Jack" a great movie. Although it's incorrect and too straight enough, "Casino Jack" delivers just enough perfection. "Casino Jack", in my review, "a phenomenal perfection of a movie, Spacey at his finest".