Kevin Spacey Dusts Off His Al Pacino Impression in Official Casino Jack Trailer

Hoo-ah! Back in 1997, Kevin Spacey hosted Saturday Night Live and showed off a number of fairly spot-on impressions: Christopher Walken, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon and, of course, Al Pacino. As the first official trailer for Casino Jack can attest, over 13 years later, the man's still got it -- at least when it comes to Pacino. Though if you're asking yourself why Spacey does a Pacino impersonation in the middle of a film about D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff, you're not alone.

Casino Jack was recently purchased for U.S. theatrical distribution, and while it's coming out in December, there is something decidedly "Made-for-HBO" about this trailer. That starts with Spacey, who turns Abramoff -- the flashy, kingfish lobbyist who bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars before being indicted for fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion -- into some sort of out-sized cartoon; he's the type of man who has no trouble busting out his broad Pacino-in-And Justice for All impression during a city hearing ("You're out of order! This whole city hearing is out of order!"). It's shocking that Spacey-as-Abramoff isn't shown lighting a cigar with a $100 bill.

The rest of the cast feels decidedly small-time, too: Jon Lovitz, Kelly Preston, Graham Greene and Barry Pepper all show up doing what you'd expect of them. When Movieline saw Casino Jack at Sundance, Hickenlooper compared his film to Goodfellas. This looks more like Wiseguy.

VERDICT: Pass.

If the trailer gets yanked down, head over to Apple.



Comments

  • The Pope says:

    I dunno, maybe he did say it and it is part of the court transcripts or maybe they went for it to make the point that he thought himself some sort of movie star. Still, I'm with you. I looks paltry.

  • Bronson says:

    They're all doing Scarface impressions on the Hill these days. Harry Reid hates it, on account of what happened in Godfather II. I won't go into details...

  • Nice Muffs says:

    Now you can leave your friend's dog alone, grab your iPad and go out. This new toy attracts so much attention, so I guarantee that you would be surprise how popular you are! But you have to get iPad right now, who knows how quickly the novelty will wear off!