By: John Woods
Owning Mahowny (2003) is an honest yet harrowing tale about the harmful nature of gambling addiction and the lengths people will go to feed it. Based on the book “Stung” by Gary Stephen Ross, the movie dramatizes the true story of Brian Molony, a respected and successful Toronto bank vice president whose addiction to gambling led him to embezzle his employer for $10 million in just two years.
What sets Owning Mahowny apart from other crime thrillers, however, is how it focuses on the mental state of the protagonist and his addiction to gambling rather than just the crimes he is committing. Given the shocking nature of his offenses, it would have been easy for the director, Richard Kwietniowski, to sensationalize the story and follow the same old narrative of a brave chancer who took on the system and made his millions before justice eventually found him.
Instead, this movie focuses on the protagonist and gives a deep insight into the mind of an incredibly troubled man who lives for nothing other than the thrill of gambling. For Dan Mahowny, played by the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman, nothing else in the world brings him as much pleasure as putting everything he has into the hands of fate.
Throughout the movie, the audience learns that Dan likes to gamble in just about everything. When he’s not hitting the blackjack tables or spinning the roulette wheel, he’s making sports and race track bets. Before long, Mahowny’s compulsive gambling places him in significant personal debt and, when faced with the prospect of not being able to feed his habit, he begins siphoning money from his place of work.
For two years Mahowny continues to lie and embezzle funds for his gambling addiction until the police begin investigating his bookmaker on an unrelated basis and his secret is discovered. After he’s caught, Mahowny’s life continues to plummet into a downward spiral and we are given some intensely dramatic cinema that is both dark and at times uncomfortable to watch.
It goes without saying that Philip Seymour Hoffman really hits the ball out of the park in this one (as he did in every role he ever played) and succeeds in accurately portraying Mahowny’s desperation and helplessness in the face of addiction. His deeply emotional performance forces you to empathize with the character and see him as a victim to something he cannot control rather than just as a criminal. In addition to this, Minnie Driver and John Hurt also provide incredible performances that really help to season the tale and carry along with the plot.
Unlike more traditional gambling movies in Hollywood such as Ocean’s Eleven or Rain Man, Owning Mahowny ditches the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas Boulevard in exchange for a much darker path. Rather than romanticize gambling, this movie succeeds in exposing its hideous underbelly and shows us what happens when a person loses control. Though the story is a sad one, the movie is a truly fascinating one to watch and is well worth 104 minutes of your time.
About John Woods:
John is a professional copywriter with seven years of experience creating gripping content for a wide variety of audiences. His work has been published on UC Today, No Jitter, Customer Contact Central, and InGenius. He’s a versatile writer who specializes in the fields of technology, cloud communications, as well as gaming and online casinos. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, watching football, playing guitar, and trying to learn Spanish.