Following in the tradition of such interweaving ensemble dramas as MAGNOLIA, CRASH, and TRAFFIC, EVEN MONEY features an all-star cast set in the world of addiction--to money, power, love, and gambling. Kim Basinger stars as Carolyn, a married woman having trouble writing her second book. Although she tells her husband, Tom (a compassionate Ray Liotta), that she is working in a nearby cafe, she is actually spending all her time--and the family money--gambling in a casino, where she is befriended by Walter (Danny DeVito, one of the film's producers), a lowlife magician who wants to recapture his old glory. Walter is desperate for the help of a local crime lord, the mysterious Ivan, but Ivan's right-hand man, the malicious Victor (Tim Roth), merely toys with Walter while coming down hard on Clyde (Forest Whitaker), a plumber who owes Victor a lot of dough. Victor is threatening to kill Clyde unless his brother, Darius (Nick Cannon), a college basketball star, starts shaving points in critical games. Meanwhile, Augie (Jay Mohr) and Murph (Grant Sullivan) are getting into the loan shark business themselves, not quite understanding how dangerous it can be. Looking over all of this is Detective Brunner (Kelsey Grammer), a grizzled old cop reminiscent of Captain Quinlan in Orson Welles's TOUCH OF EVIL. Written by first-time screenwriter Robert Tannen and directed by Mark Rydell (ON GOLDEN POND, THE COWBOYS), EVEN MONEY is a complex drama with a fine cast, with Rydell bringing all the stories together in a wild finale.