Casino Jack and the United States of Money 2010

Michael Phillips, At the Movies: It really is compelling. Read more

Stephen Holden, New York Times: Mr. Abramoff may be in prison, but there are no signs that his kind of high-powered lobbying, which one talking head describes as "legalized bribery," is a thing of the past. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: It's very entertaining as well as appalling. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The big absence here is the man himself; Gibney couldn't get the jailed Abramoff on camera, either due to unwillingness or a Justice Department intervention. Whatever the reason, it's crippling. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Casino Jack is audience-friendly without turning into a Michael Moore-ish clown show. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's a story well told, but Abramoff's voice is missing: Gibney interviewed him in prison but could not film him. You wonder what this sweet-talker might say for himself, looking back over that long, ugly money trail. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Gibney has enough material for a dozen movies here, but his attempt at an overview, however unwieldy, paints one hell of a nauseating picture. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Abramoff documentary is appalling, entertaining Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Gibney is a busy boy, and he draws the lines between Abramoff and his friends -- and his friends' friends -- with the documentary equivalent of a highlighter. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The crimes of conservative superlobbyist Jack Abramoff are already receding into the hopeless murk of congressional history, so this epic documentary by Alex Gibney is even more welcome for its reach. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Superlobbyist, Republican wheeler-dealer, and convicted felon Jack Abramoff may seem like old news right now -- he's been trumped by Bernie Madoff et al. -- but what he represents, alas, is all too evergreen. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: I don't know about you, but the moment I hear the word lobbyist, my brain glazes over. Casino Jack and the United States of Money woke my brain, and my outrage, right up. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: Gibney is as good as it gets at making complicated political material come alive on screen. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: The picture is briskly edited, and the energy never lags. But the amount of information the viewer is asked to process is voluminous -- and never stops coming. Read more

Ian Buckwalter, NPR: The narrative trots all over the globe, including stops for labor exploitation in the Marianas Islands, dealings with Russian mobsters,ripping off Indian tribes in the desert southwest, and jetting to Scotland to golf with impressionable politicians. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: That the film is overlong ultimately testifies to its importance, though after a while, the outrageous details start to run together like surreal satire. Except, of course, that it's all true. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: Watching Casino Jack and the United States of Money made me sick to my stomach. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer: Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Casino Jack is designed as an indictment of a whole culture of influence peddling, a Beltway way of life where a pat on the back often comes with a kickback. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: The snarky tone, use of musical puns and jokey graphics (was Keith Olbermann an executive producer?) undermine the impact of the story. Read more

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Auds will feel info-glut over the course of the two-hour-plus film, which is hardly the desirable response for a piece of reporting on the vital issue of the corrupting effect of money in American politics. Read more

F.X. Feeney, Village Voice: Casino Jack and the United States of Money is indispensable viewing. Read more

Philip Kennicott, Washington Post: Ultimately, it becomes a Rorschach test of the viewer's cynicism: Does it shock you? You must not live in Washington, read the newspaper or follow politics. Are you horrified? Congratulations, and now wise up. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Read more