'Mad Money (PG-13)(out of four)

If you want to plunk down some of your mad money for an hour and a half of enjoyable, freewheeling, greedy fun, "Mad Money" just might be your ticket.

The feminist caper about three women who try to beat the system by taking cash from the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank has a theme that anyone can relate to in these recessionary times.

Diane Keaton is at the center of the film as Bridget, a suburban 60-something housewife, who finds herself back in the workforce after years of spending most of her time raising kids, sitting on symphony boards and hosting backyard parties. Her husband (a very gray haired Ted Danson) has been downsized out of his managerial job and has spent the past year camped out on the couch. He breaks the news to Bridget early on in the film that the couple is $280,000 in debt.

When Bridget's cleaning woman (was the stereotypical Latin maid with a shady criminal past really necessary?) has a change of heart to help her former employer despite being owed money for her own services, she sets her up with a job at the Federal Reserve as a janitor.

Quicker than you can say Pine Sol, Bridget is hatching a scheme to take money about to be shredded and turn it into the answer to her financial woes. But she needs help. "Crime is contagious," she says in the opening voiceover of the film. And she's out to make everyone catch what she's got.

She befriends Nina, wonderfully played by Queen Latifah, a single mother whose goal in life is to only have the best for her two boys. (Sidenote: We have to endure yet another stereotype here. While Bridget lives in an upper middle class, white-picketed fence house, Nina is stuck in the projects.) Reluctant at first, Nina eventually comes around to joining Bridget's plan.

They need a third accomplice and turn to Jackie (Katie Holmes), another bank employee, a diabetic who shuts the world out by wearing heaphones and listening to music all day. While the story is extremely far-fetched and it's unlikely the women would ever get away with the scheme, there is enough earnest believability and hold-your-breath moments that you get caught up in the money trail.

Keaton couldn't be more engaging, and she plays Bridget with a kooky demeanor, but never forces the character to run over the top. On the other end of the spectrum, Holmes' character never really gets a chance to develop, leaving the actress hanging on the periphery as a third wheel and mugging for the camera. Queen Latifah's honest performance as Nina continues to cement the actress/singer's place as a solid movie star.

If director Callie Khouri's name seems familiar, perhaps it's because she won an Oscar for her script "Thelma & Louise" in 1991. She leaves the writing to Glenn Gers, but as a director, she's able to elicit some good performances and create a slice-of-life that leaves moviegoers chattering about their own schemes to make quick cash as they exit the theater.