At first, I hadn’t even intended to watch this movie. The trailers made it appear mediocre at best, and I had heard next to nothing about it from anyone. But I was bored and it was there, so I gave Mad Money a shot. And I was happily surprised.

The story begins when Don and Bridget Cardigan, an average middle-age couple, find themselves unemployed and in need of financial aid. With her outdated college education and very weak grasp on today’s technology, Bridget winds up as a janitor in the Federal Reserve. Soon her money-hungry mind starts running and suddenly Bridget and two fellow employees find themselves concocting and initiating a fool-proof plan to steal piles of old, tattered cash otherwise headed for destruction.

Now the premise doesn’t sound like much, but actors Ted Danson (Becker), Diane Keaton (Because I Said So), Katie Holmes (Batman Begins) and Queen Latifah (Bringing Down the House) did with their roles what their roles did with the money – took it and ran. All of these actors have years of experience under their belts and it showed. They did a superb job in presenting their characters as plain, everyday people who couldn’t turn down a perfect opportunity. I actually found myself being reminded of people I know in the real world while watching the movie, and that fact kept me engaged and interested (and also made the plot slightly more amusing). 

The writing itself probably circled more around “mediocre”, but not annoyingly so. I’d imagine it’d be quite challenging for Mad Money writer Glenn Gers (Fracture) to formulate a new and believable way that a few American citizens could rip off a highly-secured federal building. Fortunately I think Gers did a satisfactory job in that case. However, there were a couple of scenes that I felt could’ve been cut out and have little to no effect on the comedy or quality of the movie at all. But Hollywood produces a lot of movies that way, so I really didn’t see it as a significant problem. It just took away from any edge or originality this movie could’ve held.

There’s really not much else to say about Mad Money. It wasn’t anything special, but was certainly a very entertaining surprise for me. Anyone open to have a few laughs should definitely give this movie a chance.