God, he tells his politically connected Bible study group, wants us to be liquid.Ībramoff, who resorts to Al Pacino impersonations whenever he's in the hot seat, is an intriguing mix of contradictions and hypocrisies, while his lieutenant and disciple Michael Scanlon (Barry Pepper) is a simpler kind of scum, just grossly acquisitive and a philanderer.

In Spacey's masterful hands, Abramoff is intelligent, charismatic, driven, impulsive - and apparently genuinely religious. In the film, his downfall is assured when he simultaneously attempts to buy the floating casino on credit, open two swank Washington restaurants and a Hebrew day school - and hit up a Michigan tribe for fraudulent fees to pay for it all. The storytelling ranges from cleverly concise (Abramoff buying the Zamboni before the hockey rink is built) to painfully awkward (newspaper clippings flashed on the screen.)Ī lifelong Republican activist, Abramoff (who recently completed a jail sentence for fraud and conspiracy) built up his lobbying business making sure that minimum-wage laws were not applied to offshore sweatshops and keeping the taxman away from native casinos. The result, unfortunately, is a two-headed plot associated with locations - a cruise-ship casino and a native reservation - in which Abramoff is not physically present. A real news clip included with the credits reveals that one scene recreated an actual political event word for word. Director George Hickenlooper, who died from an accidental painkiller overdose while promoting the newly completed film last fall, is determined to cover all the angles and stick to the facts.

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