Did you know there's a movie coming out that shares a name with the popular show on CNBC? Yeah, it's called Mad Money and it stars Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton and Tom Cruise's wife and it sounds like it has an amusingly convoluted plot. The one line pitch: "Three female employees of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City plan to steal a huge fortune in used banknotes that are about to be destroyed."
I hadn't heard of this movie until the other day, but on CNBC they did a spot with Cramer and Queen Latifah and I have to say right now I'm a big fan of her. I once saw her in the lobby of a swank Miami hotel, and I think she smiled in my direction. Also, Taxi, hello?
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that we're supposed to be rooting for Queen and Dianne. Obviously, cause they're the stars. But notice that they're stealing banknotes that are about to be destroyed', which somehow makes them different than plain old thieves, I suppose. You know, it's sort of like how if you work at a restaurant, it's cool to take home some food that might've been thrown out -- no harm, no foul, right? Except, well, this audience doesn't need the difference explained. Preventing the systematic destruction of dollar bills could cause the money supply to expand, leading to inflation. It's basically the same as counterfeiting dollar bills or expanding the money supply by sending everyone an $800 check without a proportionate cut in government spending.
I suppose that's the filmmaker's point. They're actually closet Rothbardians, arguing that there's no moral difference between steeling banknotes from the Kansas City Fed and the government causing inflation when it's convenient. Both are basically theft. Considering how timely this movie is, I expect it will be a huge blockbuster
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Just kidding. The Box Office Junkie takes a look at this weekend's releases and offers some reasons why Mad Money will probably be a bomb. For one thing, the critics have panned it. Not surprising, since they probably didn't get the deep Austrian economics. No really, it's obviously targeted towards women viewers, but women viewers aren't usually going to see a heist movie en masse. And men aren't going to be dragging their wives to see a Diane Keaton movie. The real problem though is that a bona fide chick flick, 27 Dresses with it-girl Katherine Heigl is opening this weekend. Even if it's not that good (and I have no idea whether it is or not) it's going to be a solid first choice for a lot of viewers. All in all, more evidence of how complex the business of box offices is and why it's so hard to predict how things will do. You can have all of the pieces in place, but then for some reason, the opening weekend doesn't work out as planned and then you don't get that word of mouth and then your film doesn't get picked up in more theaters and within three weeks it's gone. Or there's a vacuum, people see your film, they like, they tell their friends. They go see it again and again and gain and you've got a Big Fat Greek Wedding or a Titanic on your hands.
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