Even Money

Among the many unsavory consequences of Crash’s Best Picture triumph is the inevitable appearance of specious we’re-all-connected copycat fare. This preposterous ensemble drama features three intersecting story lines, centering on a high-school basketball player and his troubled older brother, a novelist turned compulsive gambler and a pair of low-level bookies. Less pompous than its Oscar-winning predecessor, Even Money never quite achieves the earlier film’s epic badness—but Kim Basinger’s mortifying turn as the struggling writer is hysterical in every sense of the word. (Opens Fri; Click here for venues.) — Joshua Land