01
The Gambler
Why this pick
Like Owning Mahowny, it treats gambling as a compulsion rather than a glamorous vice, with a bleak, character-first focus on self-sabotage and the accumulating pressure of debt.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2003 1h 44m CAN
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Owning Mahowny
CrimeDramaThriller
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Owning Mahowny, try these.
01
02
California Split
Why this pick
A loose, unsentimental immersion in gambling culture, balancing restless momentum, shabby comedy and the unsettling sense that winning never resolves the need to keep playing.
03
The Cooler
Why this pick
Another anti-glamour casino drama built around damaged people and institutional exploitation, with a low-key, melancholy Las Vegas atmosphere rather than heist-movie thrills.
04
Bad Lieutenant
Why this pick
Its raw, intimate portrait of addiction and professional collapse shares Mahowny’s discomfort: the tension comes from watching a compromised man keep finding ways to go further.
05
Wake in Fright
Why this pick
This escalating study of a respectable man caught in a punishing gambling-and-drinking spiral has the same claustrophobic moral dread and refusal to make self-destruction entertaining.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
Our curator needs a little longer. Please come back shortly.
No confident matches yet. Try our personal film finder.
01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
In 1982, Toronto bank employee Dan Mahowny (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is given access to bigger and bigger accounts with his promotion to assistant branch manager. His boss trusts him, but is unaware that Mahowny is a compulsive gambler. Mahowny is soon embezzlement larger and larger amounts for his own use and making weekly trips to Atlantic City, where he is treated like a king by a competent casino manager (John Hurt). Mahowny's girlfriend, fellow bank employee Belinda (Minnie Driver), cannot understand what is happening. Mahowny's criminal acts come to light when Toronto police begin to investigate his longtime bookie Frank (Maury Chaykin).
Showing saved details. Some information may be out of date.
02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Dan Mahowny
Ian Tracey
Det. Ben Lock
Jason Blicker
Dave Quinson
Roger Dunn
Bill Gooden
Eric Fink
Psychologist
Brona Brown
Teller
Philip Craig
Briggs
Michael Caruana
Alex Retsnor