REVIEW: Follow the Money (and the Intrigue) in Gibney's Casino Jack

Early in his documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, filmmaker Alex Gibney shares an e-mail he received from super-corrupt superstar lobbyist Jack Abramoff: "You should make an action film." In a way, Gibney has: Casino Jack tells the weird, totally true tale of how Abramoff diverted millions of dollars in revenues from Indian casinos to the coffers of influential lawmakers and almost got away with it.

There are no shootouts in Casino Jack, but there is a mysterious, possibly mob-related murder; the principals in this story partake of some pretty lavish jet-setting to exotic locales like Saipan and Scotland, where they avail themselves of luxury resorts and golf courses; and Abramoff's bad behavior, in addition to being merely criminal, includes the sort of antics a lazy screenwriter might throw into a script to show a villain's callousness. Casino Jack could maybe use a Bond girl or two, but as true stories of political corruption and hubris go, it's pretty explosive as it is.

And as unbelievable tales go, it's also, sadly, wholly believable. Gibney -- who won an Oscar in 2007 for Taxi to the Dark Side, his exploration of the murder of an Afghan taxi driver at the hands of American soldiers -- is, right now at least, the hardest-working man in the documentary filmmaking business. He's contributed a segment on Sumo wrestling to the forthcoming Freakonomics, and his filmed version of Lawrence Wright's solo theater piece, My Trip to Al-Qaeda, is set to air on HBO. (He's also finishing up a film about deposed New York governor Eliot Spitzer.) Casino Jack is just further proof that Gibney is in the right line of work. He's a good storyteller, with a knack for ferreting out dry but important facts and weaving them into an engaging narrative. Gibney also seems to like people, even scoundrels -- which is probably a necessity when you're making a movie about Jack Abramoff.

Casino Jack opens with a fairly juicy murder: The 2001 shooting of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, who until recently had owned the SunCruz Line, a fleet of gambling boats. Abramoff and an associate, Adam Kidan, had purchased the business the year before; Boulis still retained 10 percent, and his relationship with the new owners was strained. Later, Abramoff and Kidan would be indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with the SunCruz purchase, but that's hardly the beginning, or the end, of the bizarre ballad of Jack Abramoff. Gibney, characteristically, seizes on the right tidbits and pieces them together in an alluring, sordid patchwork: Abramoff was born in New Jersey but moved with his family to Beverly Hills at age 10. While watching Fiddler on the Roof at age 12, he was inspired to become an Orthodox Jew. After graduating from Brandeis University, in 1981, he became national chairman of the College Republicans, where he cozied up to fellow conservatives Ralph Reed (who'd later go on to lead the Christian Coalition) and tax-reform advocate Grover Norquist.

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