I don't have time for this right now. So give me every home team in the national and every away team in the american for the $1000 max on each game.

Owning Mahowny is a terrifying look into addictive behavior. We watch Mahowny's life take a dramatic downward spiral. The whole time he knows he shouldn't be doing what he's doing - but he just can't stop. It's compulsive for him. My favorite part about this story is his vice doesn't extend into the other traditional vices. It's just gambling for him: drugs, alchohol and sex need not apply. But when he gambles he does it up. He works as an assistant bank manager in Toronto where he makes $22,000 a year, Canadian. But then he goes to Atlantic City with hundreds of thousands of dollars for quick gambling trips. He is of course stealing all this money from the bank, which adds an extra level of tension to the story and shows how he really is ruining his life in the long run - because those are the kinds of mistakes that don't just go away.

Mahowny is stupendously acted by Philip Seymour Hoffman. We can see the struggles he has and when he decides, screw it all, I'm doing it. But what most struck me was that I kept looking at his girlfriend thinking: I know her, but can't place the actress. It turns out it was Minnie Driver! An actress I absolutely should have recognized. Maybe it was the blonde hair, but I think it's much more likely it was just an excellent acting job.

This is not a fun movie to watch. But I found it captivating.

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