Excellent, smart action film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a remake of Hot Money (2001) which was a really good British TV movie inspired by the true story of the Loughton incinerator thefts that took place in the late 80's to early 90's The thieves despite living sudden questionably lavish lives would have probably got away with it for much longer except one of the husbands stupidly tried to pay £100'000 of stolen bank notes into a bank which not surprisingly resulted in them being caught. Hot Money (in my opinion) is a far more entertaining watch than Mad Money as it is gritty and realistic, keeping you on the edge of your seat whilst still being light hearted. Sadly Hot Money is not available anywhere it seems to buy or rent as it was made by Granada TV and from what I can tell has not been released. If however you do want to watch it you can on YouTube and after the first 10 minutes the sound is much better - well worth a look if you found Mad Money entertaining

Sometimes you can see the genre engineering. It is better if you do not, but many of these are mass produced chum, and what we have is the Spielberg-supported "high concept." Take the woman who wrote a couple of women's movies with simple appeal and make an Oceans' 11 but for women. That's the pitch. Have lots of squeals of joy, toilet and sex humor (but of the supposed women variety). Well, you can read about these failures from others. The thing that interested my here were the men in the story. When you make, say an Oceans' 11, it is all about the men. They need to be cool, ultracool, some of them. There are mechanics of plot that are essential, but it is all about that feel of natural cool.When you make a woman's film, it also about the men. Look here at these men. You have basically four men, the three partners of the women, plus the head of security at the Fed. In this writer's mind, these are the four cardinal points of male partnership. We shouldn't put too much credit on this, because the movie was a huge flop. But it did pass Hollywood's engineers, and was re-engineered late in the game to suit what some committee thought would work, man-wise.You have the inspector: cocky, intrusive, too proud to admit his own inadequacies. (Remember that this was released at the end of the W Bush era.)The primary husband just wants a job because he feels inadequate. He is "smart" in a women's magazine sense, meaning he knows lots of facts.The secondary husband is a dullard, probably a school dropout who performs manual labor at a meat plant. His wife is the pretty/sexy one in the bunch, and we are supposed to get the picture that his meat is worth it. The third "husband" is the one that fascinates. A huge audience for these movies is black women, and this social engineering seems more mature. We have the Latifah character who is just fine on her own without a man. She manages her sons well enough — we are told multiple times how well they are turning out. The guy in question is introduced as a lout, a dog who hassles women sexually. Watch the careful way that he is transformed and how he becomes both her sexual partner (about which much is made) and one of her sons.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I loved this movie! It brings a SMILE to your face. Isn't it one of the most important missions of cinema as an art ? (Apart from making you dream that your craziest dreams my come true too?!) Naïf ? No. Just relaxed and happy.It also made me discover Katie Holmes ! Never got attracted by any news regarding her or any movie she participated in. Yes, I'm probably late on this "discovery"... But did you too NOTICE the way she DANCES all through the movie ?! FANTASTIC! I WISH I COULD MOVE LIKE HER ! :-) To me, as they call it here in Italy, it was "ciliegina sulla torta" :-)Complimenti to director and scriptwriters !

Three women who handle money thats to be destroyed pull off a robbery and then complications set in. Actually we know of the complications from the get go since it begins there and goes back...Good cast in a movie that isn't bad. Actually its a pleasant time killer,which completely surprised me because the reviews I had read had really lambasted this film. That the film works at all is testament to the three leads, Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes (how is correctly cast here unlike Batman Begins) and Queen Latifah. The three women and their supporting players make this good enough you wish it was better. As it is it's worth a look.