Two for the Money

Mathew McConaughey is Brandon Lane, a former football star recruited by Walter Abraham (Al Pacino), the head of a sports consulting firm to help them set the line for their sports betting business. Lane's ability to predict the outcome of games quickly turns him into a golden boy, but it soon becomes apparent that he's bitten off more than he can chew when his abilities start to falter.

Two for the Money is a forgettable, generic thriller that doesn't really offer anything new. The film does have some entertaining moments and the first half of the movie is actually pretty exciting to watch. But, the second half is really slow and very tedious. It just drags on and on and for no reason either. It could have been a nice 90 minute movie but the story is stretched out into a two hour film. Luckily, Al Pacino is in the movie and he keeps the film exciting. He gives a good, over the top performance and he pretty much raises the film up to mediocrity. Personally, sports betting isn't that interesting to me but Al Pacino makes it interesting. He can turn a bad script into an okay movie which is what he does with the film. Let's be honest, the script is not very good and the direction is weak. It's so obvious where things are going which is not surprising because this is the same guy that made Taking Lives.

Al Pacino is playing mentor to Matthew McConaughey and their chemistry together isn't very strong. McConaughey is a pretty weak actor and he can't keep up with Pacino. The lead role should have gone to someone else. Rene Russo is okay as Pacino's wife. She gives a decent performance but she was a little too bland to truly stand out. Another thing about the film that people may not like is that every character is unlikable. It's hard to care for these characters because they are either pretty mean or bland. It didn't really bother me because I watched the film to be entertained and I did get some entertainment value from the movie. In the end, if you like Al Pacino then you should give the film a shot, if you don't then just skip it. Rating 6/10

Six years after a career-ending injury, former college football player Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) is doing little more than a phone service for gamblers. After some amazing success, he is lured to NY to join Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) in his business of gambling predictions. It's a fast talking adrenaline junkie's business and Walter's wife Toni (Rene Russo) tries to keep ever present dangers in check.

The story isn't that exciting. The characters are questionable. The big takeaway is the acting. Matthew McConaughey is a master of this brash young guy. He works well with the master Al Pacino. Al has more intensity than the rest of the cast. And Rene Russo has that superior regal airs about her. The movie starts well, but it does slow down around the middle. It is just too long, and the second half gets quite tiresome. Maybe the Pacino intensity wore me out. At the end, I really didn't care about anybody in the movie.

Networks can't talk about it. The government can't tax it. Yet sports betting is a $200 billion a year business. A business that strives to exploit every vulnerability, manipulate every gullibility, and convince the client that it can provide them certainty in an uncertain world.

Two for the Money is the story of one man's journey into the sports gambling world. Matthew McConaughey delivers one of his more impressive performances as he transforms from Brandon Lang, the smooth-talking golden boy, into John Anthony - "The Million Dollar Man with the Billion Dollar Plan." A transformation that comes complete with a new suit, a new car, a new attitude, and slicked back hair - a sure-fire movie sign that corruption or a loss of innocence is imminent.

Portraying a character that must deal with this corruption of innocence, McConaughey demonstrates that he can act with more than just his dimples and down-home Southern charm. Lang is a machine. He knows the teams, the leagues, the players, the game. All he does is work out and pick winners, two facts made abundantly clear by McConaughey's propensity to walk around shirtless just as often as he makes football picks. I may have rolled my eyes once or twice, but I heard nary a complaint from the ladies in the audience. Except for that one that looked a little like my Uncle Larry.

Lang's corruption rests solely on the fragile shoulders of Walter Abrams, a sleazy character played so effortlessly by Al Pacino that you can't help but feel slightly disturbed by the ease with which he seems capable of tainting ambitious young men. Screaming less than usual, Pacino's portrayal is nothing short of an indictment of those sports advisors who feed on the weak. Sports gambling may be illegal in 46 states, but Abrams is well aware that "sports advising" (the politically correct preference, no doubt) is not. Despite the false promise of certainty, sports advising is presented as more used car salesmanship than mathematical study. Figure out your client's needs, and get his money. That's the name of the game. As for actually picking a winner? It's 50-50. A flip of the coin.

Sure, Lang is able to compile a pretty impressive hot streak, but what happens when it comes to a crashing halt? The peaks are indeed very high when the fun and money are flowing, but is it worth the lesson learned when your family is threatened and you're hit with the realization of what losing $380,000 can do to a family?

Ultimately, the movie would have proved more effective if there had been a greater emphasis on the devastation of the lows of losing. Consequences are touched but never fully realized. I would have also liked less predictability in a movie about a very unpredictable lifestyle, but Two for the Money still succeeds in giving the audience a glimpse of what gets in the minds of those willing to gamble. Is it about the game? Is it about the money? Or, as Abrams believes, is it about the risk some people are willing to take to feel what they perceive as being alive?

The dialogue and character interaction happen at a quick enough pace to grab and seal your attention, and while the last act is somewhat weighed down by the two-hour runtime and the semi-sappy melodrama of plans gone awry, Money still manages to convince the audience to care about whether or not Brandon can get back to where he began - the purity of the game.

You want certainty in an uncertain world? Then put your money on obligatory shirtless Matthew McConaughey scenes and Pacino's incisors getting a nice scene-chewing workout. It's a safer bet than trusting your money with the decision-making of those who care more about the profit than they do about you.

THE GIST

Two for the Money will prove to be most enjoyable to those with some familiarity or interest with sports and the gambling side of the business. But McConaughey and Pacino deliver enough laughs and energy to make this more accessible to those with little knowledge of the subject matter. If you have your doubts about this one then don't worry about spending the big bucks to see it on the big screen - it'll make for a good rental.

Al Pacino stars with Matthew McConaughey and Rene Russo in "Two for the Money," a 2005 film directed by D.J. Caruso.

Pacino plays Walter Abrams, a man with a serious heart condition, a wife, and a child. As his wife says, "he's held together by meetings. If it has an "anonymous" after its name, he goes to it." A former compulsive gambler, he now runs a sports betting business. He becomes interested in a former football player, retired due to a knee injury, named Brandon Lang (McConaughey). Lang gives out accurate predictions and point spreads on a 900 line, and Abrams invites Lang to work for him.

Lang moves to New York, where Abrams changes his name to John Anthony, dresses him professionally, and ultimately puts him on television. Anthony is very successful - the business gets a percentage of every win, and Anthony does very well by his clients.

Unfortunately, as Abrams himself says, Anthony is not a psychic - which Anthony seems to forget, becoming too interested in golf games with his clients instead of research, and the inevitable happens. "John Anthony" then must come to terms with the complex man he's working for and how and if he's going to get back in the game.

This is a good-looking film with Pacino sucking out all the air in the room, overpowering both McConaughey and Russo with his take no prisoners acting. McConaughey is one hot number, and there was a time, when he first started acting, that he wanted to be another Paul Newman. Then he was pulled into chick flicks. The result is a successful career but not necessarily a successful acting career. Therefore he's not really a good match for Pacino.

Jeremy Piven plays another analyst who works for Abrams, and he does an effective job, as does Armand Assante, a bettor who doesn't like to lose - he's really excellent in a short role.

But Pacino rules - you can sense this man's volatility and you have no idea what he's going to pull next. This is definitely a film for Pacino fans. It's not terribly original, but there are some good scenes and some witty dialogue.

In Vegas, after breaking the knee in a game, the former promising football player Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) has to work in a phone service foreseeing the results of the games due to the lack of professional options. After many successful predictions, he is invited by Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) to move to Manhattan and work with him in his gambling advising business. Brandon changes his name and personality, becomes famous advising clients and close to Walter's family, and a good friend of his wife, the owner of a hairdresser saloon Toni Morrow (Rene Russo). When the predictions of Brandon fail, he feels that it is time to return home.

"Two for the Money" is a good entertainment, mainly because it is based on a true story, inclusive in the DVD there is an interview of the screenplay writer with the real Brandon. The story partially discloses an illegal business that deals with billions of dollars, and keeps the interest until the end, without being exceptional or unforgettable. Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey and Rene Russo make this film worth. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Tudo Por Dinheiro" ("All for Money")