Das schnelle Geld

Two for the Money is a decent, diverting picture. The material at times seems a little beneath these fine actors, but the film ends up hitting enough of the right notes to make it worth seeing.

Matthew McConaughey would seem a little out of his league on the same screen with Al Pacino and Rene Russo. By the end of the film, you will most likely feel that he's more than held his own, however. McConaughey plays a former college football star who sees his chances of a professional career destroyed by a serious injury. He quickly finds himself picking college football games for a low-rent betting line. With all of his past experience as a player, he does quite well with it. Well enough to attract the attention of Al Pacino, who runs a more up-scale operation in New York. By the end of the first half hour, McConaughey is picking all kinds of football winners, and making Pacino a ton of money. As you would expect, this success does not last very long as various egos spiral out of control and the betting gods turn on our heroes as they eventually do to all of us. The film is more of a character study about the minds of gamblers and lost identity than it is about the workings of an actual betting organization. Overall, it works on a couple different levels.

Pacino is fine, but not as out of control as you might hope. His character has a bad heart, so any typical Pacino tantrums are not really in order for him. He brings as much dignity as one could to the role of an addicted gambler, though. Rene Russo is terrific as his long-suffering wife and a former junkie. Pacino at some points seems to be trying to lose her to McConaughey. He being one of those terribly afflicted gamblers who only feels alive when he's just lost everything he wagered. The supporting cast is pretty good, too. Jeremy Piven is always appreciated, and so is the appearance by Armand Assante.

The best scene in the film takes place at a betting support group meeting that Pacino and his new protégé walk in on. Pacino, being a hopeless gambler himself shows empathy toward these degenerates, then has the nerve to pass out his business card to them!!! The logic I guess being that if you people have to lose, you might as well do it through a fellow degenerate gambler.

The biggest flaw I noticed was too many shots of McConaughey without his shirt on. Yes, the guy has great abs, but we don't need to see so much of them!! Overall this is a good film with some interesting things to say about people who bet. Notice how in the end, the "experts" are really just like the guys they take calls from. During the big games, we're all just sitting there with a beer in our hand, hanging by every first down or dropped ball.

7 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

This film is not as bad as many say, its a decent film about sports betting. I give the director credit for keeping it interesting as this film could have potentially been a bore. However there were some problems with the script, mainly the last act which was not logical. The acting and smart direction from Caruso save this project. Although it isn't a terribly convincing film, Pacinos performance allows is to not be a total disappointment. McConaughey was good as well, casted well in his role. Jeremy Piven was great in his supporting role, but Armand Assante was bad, boy does he not know how to perform lines and be convincing while doing it. Most of my problems with this film was Dan Gilroys screenplay which although at times smart, and entertaining, all in all not concise and consistent. 7/10

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")

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.

Matthew McConaughey is Brandon Lang, a former college football star who devastated his knee and was never able to play professionally. Six years later he's recording "sports predictions" for a 1-900 number in Las Vegas and living with his mom and younger brother, still dreaming of playing professional football one day. He never hears from the Cowboys, but he does get a call from Walter Abrams (the Godfather himself, Al Pacino), an entrepreneur who runs his own sports betting business, inviting him to move to New York and work for him.

Though Brandon Lang is the hero of the story, Walter Abrams is the beating heart of Two For The Money. He's a recovered gambling addict who runs his own empire of "sports betting advisers." No other film has ever explored the psyche of the gambling addict so precisely and intimately. Abrams describes what it feels like to win, but even more fascinatingly, he discusses the addict's subconscious desire to loose it all. Gambling addicts don't bury themselves in debt because they're sure they can win. They do it because they need to loose everything to feel alive.

Two For The Money is better than I expected. The characters are rich and complex and the story is never dull. Hell, this movie is worth seeing for the topless McConaughey shots alone.