Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) has a knack for transforming creative bookkeeping into compelling drama. In Casino Jack and the United States of Money, the prolific documentarian takes on disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff (Stanley Tucci provides his voice in readings), beginning with the mob-style murder of a one-time associate before backtracking to Abramoff's days as chairman of the College Republicans, where he rubbed shoulders with Karl Rove, Grover Norquist, and Christian Coalition head Ralph Reed, while also impressing President Ronald Reagan. Even as a student, the signs of trouble were already present, as Abramoff laundered money through charities—a pattern he would repeat for decades, always on the lookout for new loopholes. Gibney proceeds through Abramoff's dealings with the Contras in Nicaragua, an Angolan dictator (the debacle in Angola led Abramoff to produce and co-write the 1989 right-wing shoot-'em-up, Red Scorpion), Saipan sweatshops, and Native American casinos. Along the way, Abramoff ensnared lawmakers and government officials who traded political favors for campaign financing. As Representative Bob Ney's chief of staff, Neil Volz, puts it, Abramoff “could talk a dog off a meat truck.” When his house of cards finally collapsed, Reed, Ney, Volz, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and numerous others fell with him (all but Reed appear in the film). A timely portrait of money, power, and corruption, this is recommended. (K. Fennessy)