Jack Abramoff was known as a super-lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and his favor extended to both houses and both parties and even as far as The White House. Bribing politicians such as Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay with lavish gifts and taking over a casino from a murdered mobster, Abramoff and his associates made a killing until he started fleecing Native American casinos and his house of cards collapsed. He was indicted and convicted on several counts and served three and a half years in a federal penitentiary. His story has inspired no less than two movies, and have caused people to open their eyes toward the behavior of lobbyists. Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a frightening tale of corruption in our political system and greed at its most fundamental level. Director Alex Gibney recognizes a fact that many documentarians seem to forget in that documentaries are movies too and should be entertaining. Instead of filling his film with charts and graphs and experts to make it resemble a class lecture, which is the common method for documentary filmmakers, Gibney uses film clips, newspapers, and interviews with actual participants from the documented events. Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a document of unabashed greed and corruption, but it is also an entertaining film as well. It is to Gibney's credit that he was able to be successful on both fronts.
