A great movie about addiction with hardly a wrong step. The characters and situations are based on real events. To emphasize the grip gambling had on him, Hoffman is shown as having one major motivation in placing bets and no need for smoking, alcohol, sex and often forgetting to eat. Hoffman who gives a spectacular performance, unfortunately could not draw an analogy with his own dependence on narcotics which ended up costing his life at age 46.

The subtle greatness of this film is a sight to behold. Philip Seymour Hoffman is his usual outstanding self in Owning Mahowny. The film creates suspense and strong feelings of anxiety as it progresses. I most definitely recommend it. 92/100

A fascinating character study of a man who would be totally unremarkable if not for his vast financial crimes. Hoffman is perfect (obviously) and Hurt excels in the kind of role he rarely gets to play.

great movie about addiction

An underrated movie on the downward spiral of addictions that go unchecked. While not a flashy movie, Seymour Hoffman's performance makes this quite compelling.

Very well crafted and put together! Minnie Driver was just excellent in her supporting role! Each actor was quite believable and the movie has a nice flow right to the end. Based on a book but as well it must be based on a true story? A solid 8.5 of 10 stars!

If you can find a copy of this - watch it. Great indie flick and awesome performance by one of the best.

Great little film. It's the choices like Love Liza, Happiness and Owning Mahowny that make me such a Philip Seymour Hoffman fan. His every man facade only disguises the absolute acting clinic he puts on with every performance he ever did. Gone far too soon.

What a waste. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, that is. To say he was one of the finest actors of his time is inarguable, imo. To marvel at his ability to settle into roles such as this one of hapless gambling addict Dan Mahowny until his distress is palpable is to know the extent to which life can be reflected in cinema. Hoffman was able to again and again reach the place where the characters he portrayed would reside psychologically as people until he disappeared into that psyche before the camera. As Roger Ebert put it, "...Hoffman, that fearless poet of implosion, plays the role with a fierce integrity, never sending out signals for our sympathy because he knows that Mahowny is oblivious to our presence. This man who makes the feeble attempts to claim he simply has 'a financial problem' rather than a gambling problem is all too real to us. The reality tunnel he functions in is one that straddles the line between a reasonable, intelligent professional bank executive and an addict driven to irrational acts, blocking out those who try to help and his own conscience. A key line the films comes from a casino pro- "He needs to win in order to get more money to lose,". Is it more obsessive delusion or delusional obsession? Driver is good as the suffering love interest who will not give up on this hapless wretch. She knows what value there is in this man of hers, if only he would stop. The wig was a bit distracting. Better are the great John Hurt and Maury Chakin as the two classic figures in the gambling/betting world who take advantage of people like Mahowny- the street bookie and the casino manager. Great work by director Kwietniowski and writers Ross and Chauvet in giving life to a film dealing with the inherent destructive nature of addictions; how they can take down even those who are seemingly intelligent, functional people with a loving relationship and success in their job. For such sad souls, 'risk and humiliation are immaterial, that once they are locked in on the subjects of their obsessions, they have no choice but to hurry ahead to their dooms'. Of course it also holds a mirror up to those who live off the addicts they supply, devoid of conscience and concern for those whose lives they use, abuse and drain dry. 4 stars

Inspired by true events, "Owning Mahowny" is a very good movie about ludomania, without the Hollywood razzle-dazzle behind (and I write this as a good thing) and with Hoffman at its best.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver give painfully depressing, but outstanding, performances in this gritty film based on a true story of a banking executive, responsible and reliable in every way...except for a debilitating gambling problem. Dan Mahowny (Hoffman) uses his clout and trust to manipulate the system to keep his addiction going. The movie is hard to watch as the situations are very tense. The performances and direction are superb, though, engaging the viewer in the first few minutes of the opening scene.

Gambling is a dangerous addiction. That's the message the movie sends. And Philip Seymour Hoffman manages to make the story compelling. And if you're so eager to know what makes this movie one that's underrated, go watch this movie yourself. Why? Because I'm unable to write a detailed review, that's why.

A terrifying look at a man in the grip of an addiction.

Directed by Richard Kwietniowski, (Love and Death on Long Island (1997)), this true life drama was based on the 1987 book Stung: The Incredible Obsession of Brian Molony by Gary Stephen Ross. Which told of one man's addiction and how he was lucky at first not to get caught, but it soon caught up with him. Which this film is ever so loosely based on that, it's well made despite being made on a shoestring. It begins in 1980, when Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a small time bank employee in Toronto is made Assistant Branch Manager of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. While his peers look upon him as a trusted man, in reality, Mahowny has a massive gambling addiction, and he owes money to bookie Frank Perlin (Maury Chaykin). Mahowny comes up with a plan, stealing from the bank under fake accounts to go to Atlantic City, where he's always greeted by casino boss Victor Foss (John Hurt), but this lifestyle alienates him from his wife Belinda (Minnie Driver). After an audit, it all starts to come out, and the Toronto police investigate further. It's a well made film, and you can't go wrong with Hoffman, as he plays the nerdish but conniving gambler. It's an old fashioned film where one man thinks he can get away with crime, but knowing he won't get away with it forever. The film plays on what we wish we could get away with if we could, but knowing we can't in reality.

at first it was heartbreaking to watch the unraveling of a man because of an addiction, but then the grandiosity of its scale is what the movie is really about.

Very interesting character as only PSH can deliver.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Minnie Driver give painfully depressing, but outstanding, performances in this gritty film based on a true story of a banking executive, responsible and reliable in every way...except for a debilitating gambling problem. Dan Mahowny (Hoffman) uses his clout and trust to manipulate the system to keep his addiction going. The movie is hard to watch as the situations are very tense. The performances and direction are superb, though, engaging the viewer in the first few minutes of the opening scene.

It may be very plain and simply told, by Owning Mahowney offers up a glimpse into the mid of a compulsive gambler, and how the man thinks, what his lifestyle is, and what his social status amounts to. In that sense, the movie is interesting, and Hoffman offers up a neat little performance.

A lot of movies have been made on the destructive power of all sorts of addictions, but few have matched the sheer desperation of the affliction quite like "Owning Mahowny". This sparse yet electrifying and haunting film is based on a true story, the largest one-man bank fraud case in Canadian history. The screenplay by Maurice Charvet is based on the book "No Limit" by Gary Ross, and it smartly focuses solely on the devastating obsessive behavior of bank manager Dan Mahowny without all of the flash that you would find in a big Hollywood movie. This is as real and painful as it gets, and at the center of it all is the mesmerizing and fearless performance by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It's an amazingly layered piece of work, and in many ways it's even better than his Oscar winning performance in "Capote". You notice the way Hoffman is rarely able to look anyone in the eye and the fact, as one character puts it, you never even really know what he gets out of gambling. As it's stated in the script, he only seems to want to win money in order to lose it again, and it's never a question of if he's going to get caught: only when. Frankly, it's quite miraculous that he's able to get away with this charade for as long as he does, many time brushing away the harshest suspicions with a mere sentence or two. It's a credit to Hoffman, who sells it. "Owning Mahowny" is a powerhouse film that lingers with you long after it's over with one unforgettable lead performance. Thanks to Hoffman and a terrific script, an ordinary subject becomes something special.

<i>-How would you rate the thrill you got from gambling on a scale of 1 to 100? -Um... A hundred. -What about the biggest thrill you've ever had outside of gambling? -Twenty.</i> Life can sometimes overcome fiction and its rules of probabilities as shown in the real-life-based film by Richard Kwietniowski about an unassuming bank employee whose areas of his personal life slowly begin to hit a new bottom when his ability to transfer funds in an out of the bank after a promotion and approving loans to non-existent clients meet his addiction: gambling. With a low-key execution, the story unfolds patiently, but with not the impact that could mirror the mathematical and even legal implications that this event suggests it had in real life. It also carries a strong message in the end, which is only suggested with the final dialogue quoted above, but not developed fully with that intensity of living at least five times less intensely outside the addiction. Nevertheless, the grand Seymour Hoffman knows how to stay with his troubled character, and John Hurt is terrific as the badass and calculating bastard casino manager. 58/100