Casino Jack starts off as a fascinating portrait of the college-campus Republicans who came up in the 1980s — men like Abramoff and the clean-cut, fire-breathing Ralph Reed, who saw themselves as radicals out to remake America. And here's the thing: They did. It was the glad-handing, backroom-savvy Abramoff, however, who crossed the line into illegality, inviting a series of eager dupes — Malaysian dictators, Native American casino operators — to funnel millions of dollars to him and his cronies in what was, in effect, a protection racket. In the end, Abramoff went to prison, but the ethos he created didn't go away. Casino Jack is really a look at how the culture of Washington was rebuilt to sell itself to the highest bidder.
