How was your week — bright and sunshine-y or doom-and-gloom depressing? I'm asking because two movies opening this weekend ride each end of the spectrum, and your mood may have something to do with whether you choose either one.

For the down-in-the-dumps moviegoers, Even Money, a cautionary tale about gambling addiction starring Forest Whitaker, Nick Cannon, Ray Liotta and Kim Basinger, should do the trick to keep you totally depressed, if the reviews are any indication. The critics aren't sold on it, but the NY Times made sure to shout out Whitaker and Cannon's performance.

In the saddest vignette, Clyde Snow (Forest Whitaker), a handyman in debt to his bookie, pressures his much younger brother, Godfrey (Nick Cannon), a college basketball whiz, to shave points. Mr. Whitaker’s Clyde is a shambling nice guy regularly visited by thugs who administer savage beatings. Adding to the pressure, Godfrey’s coach (Charlie Robinson) catches on to the scheme and goes ballistic. The volatile mix of devotion and desperation in Clyde and Godfrey’s fraternal bond has a raw poignancy that is missing from the rest of the movie.

And then there's Shrek the Third, which also didn't get the greatest reviews but will likely make hundreds of millions of dollars anyway. One bright spot in the disappointing and unfunny is Eddie Murphy, of course. But the critics say he's underutilized. Still, I doubt many would be in a bad mood after seeing Shrek, unless they were dragged there against their will by their children/significant others.

Or maybe you should all just go see Spiderman 3.

[NYT]