Kevin Spacey performs the crap out of this role. He almost carries the movie on his back - almost. He plays Jack Abramoff during the peak of his dealings with paying people off, stealing from people, and generally doing terrible things for which he inevitably gets thrown in jail.
Barry Pepper plays Michael Scanlon, Kevin's friend who takes Kevin's orders and is just as deep into taking as much money being a dirty, evil lobbyist as he can. The problem is that he tries to be a full supporting character, but Kevin is just larger than the rest of the film at all times. As a result, his performance goes almost entirely unnoticed.
Rachelle Lefevre, Kelly Preston, and Maury Chaykin are stuck in the same boat, as they can't really do much more than set the stage for Kevin to come in and do his thing. They do a good enough job, but the script is written to feature Kevin, and Kevin is just too much person for this role and everyone around him. I wish I could pinpoint what the problem really is, but I just know that no one else really made much of an impact during this movie, and I'm at a loss as to why.
That said, Jon Lovitz brought a tiny bit of comedy to his role that was noticeable and enjoyable. Not sure he could even be considered a supporting character, as his part is really pretty tiny, but he makes the most of it.
This movie reminds me of a movie that came after it - The Wolf of Wall Street in the sheer enjoyment of money and power and the associated hubris that inevitably leads to the downfall of the people involved. Like that movie, I really dislike the environment that these movies are set in, the attitude of the people involved, and the idea that these people are given power in our system. What is made clear in both movies is that the actions of these people is still happening - it's just being done by different people.
Acting was very good
Story was not great
Dialogue was not great
Direction was meh
2.0/5