Kim Basinger is a GREAT actress!

CASINO EVIL VS. BETTOR JUDGMENT
By KYLE SMITH
Kim Basinger gambles and loses. Rating:
May 18, 2007 -- KIM Basinger gives one of her strongest performances in "Even Money," a kind of "Crash" fueled by gambling instead of racism.

The family of Basinger's character thinks she spends her days working on a novel. Instead, she's at the casino, playing the slots with a glassy stare and draining her family's savings.

Meanwhile, the older brother (Forest Whitaker) of a college basketball player (Nick Cannon) urges the kid to shave points to save him from some bookies (Jay Mohr and Grant Sullivan) who are both the facilitators and the victims of their chosen vice. Their boss (a deliciously snide Tim Roth) may have killed a man, a crime being investigated by a shamus (Kelsey Grammer, who probably shouldn't have been given both a set of crutches and a stuck-on witch nose).

Strong performances - the film was directed by Mark Rydell, who has gotten his actors nine Oscar nominations in the past - save this somewhat melodramatic film from sudsing up, at least until the end.

Still, the way Basinger's face suffers minute tremors as the cost of her addiction closes in on her is touching; she is a far better actress today than she was as a starlet. She brings across the point that the slots warrior and the body being tossed into the river have more in common than they think.

EVEN MONEY
Running time: 108 minutes. Rated R (profanity, violence, brief sexuality). At the Empire and the 19th Street.



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