Convicted “super lobbyist” Jack Abramoff is such a rich subject that he’s inspired “Casino Jack,” a hilariously entertaining feature film starring an inspired Kevin Spacey, released just a few months after an Abramoff documentary directed by Alex Gibney.
Directed by the late George Hickenlooper (“Factory Girl”), sometimes a documentarian himself, “Casino Jack” recounts the zany but true story of how Abramoff, a devout Jewish philanthropist, amassed a fortune from a motley collection of clients, including Indian tribes and clothing sweatshops in the Marianas Islands.
Abramoff became Washington’s highest-paid lobbyist, largely because of his close relationships (sometimes greased by lavish campaign donations and overseas trips) with Republican leaders, including disgraced House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, during the administration of the second President Bush.
It was Abramoff’s associate, Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper, excellent), a former DeLay aide, who suggested they take things to the next, highly illegal level — beginning with charging one tribe a whopping $300 million to lobby Congress for a casino license.
But the biggest cash grab — providing sufficient revenues for Abramoff to open his own Hebrew school and a pair of high-profile DC restaurants — came when the partners acquired shadow control of a chain of floating casinos secretly run by a Greek mobster (Daniel Kash).
It seems incredible — or just incredible hubris — that the front that Abramoff chose for the swindle, a sleazy former mattress-chain owner (Jon Lovitz), is himself mob-connected. And that Scanlon basically provides his girlfriend (Rachelle Lefevre) with the information that helps lead to their eventual indictments.
Hickenlooper does a good job of briskly explaining the complex scams at work, and there is fine supporting work by Kelly Preston, as Abramoff’s increasingly incredulous spouse, and Graham Greene, as a tribal representative who has the super-lobbyist’s number.
Spacey has a field day as the hyper-energetic Abramoff, the former producer of the Dolph Lundgren epic “Red Scorpion” who observes that “Washington is Hollywood with ugly people.”
One of the highlights of “Casino Jack” is Abramoff doing dead-on impressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan, among others.