Starring Kevin Spacey and Barry Pepper. Rated 14A.

A Washington, D.C., lobbyist nicknamed for his skill at ripping off Native American tribes while ostensibly pushing for their gambling rights, “Casino” Jack Abramoff also inspired a recent, similarly titled documentary by Alex Gibney. Here, director George Hickenlooper, armed with a fast-talking script by Norman Snider (who wrote Dead Ringers with David Cronenberg), opts for the much more difficult task of dramatizing a complex web of lies, scams, and worse. And he attempts to turn very recent events into colourful political farce, with mixed results.

The real-life Abramoff—a true believer in the Old Testament and Republican dirty tricks—bears a striking resemblance to Jeff Daniels, but Kevin Spacey is scarily effective at conveying Abramoff’s patented brand of self-righteous greed. Kelly Preston is okay as our antihero’s golden-shiksa wife, kept in the well-upholstered dark until far too late. Sparks fly further and funnier with Vancouver’s Barry Pepper as Michael Scanlon, Jack’s partner in slime and a former aide to Bush-era house whip Tom “Dancin’ ” DeLay, played perfectly by Spencer Garrett.

While pushing their right-wing agenda, Michael and Jack are forever quoting iconic Hollywood movies, but their obvious favourite would have to be Jerry Maguire—they ogle more loot at every turn. Too bad their “investment” front man is a mobbed-up clown (Jon Lovitz) leading them to nastier crimes, as exemplified by the hit man played by Maury Chaykin, in his penultimate movie appearance.

Sadly, Hickenlooper—who made some terrific documentaries and a few very bad fiction features—also died just before this was released in the States. In Casino Jack, he never quite settles on a moral attitude toward his subject, except to suggest that Abramoff (who left prison in December) was just a noisier, more messed-up version of the sharks still out there.