Two for the Money

Al Pacino continues his run of starring alongside a younger rising star. In Two for the Money he plays Walter Abrams, domineering, highly strung sports book adviser and former gambling addict with a dodgy heart.

Matthew McConaughey plays Brandon Lang, a former American Footballer whose out of the game permanently due to a knee injury but has an instinctive ability to call the game and game-plays.

Abrams takes Lang under his wing as his protégé, grooming him, shaping him, changing his clothes, style and even his name as Lang picks winners and attracts big time gamblers who bet more on more each week.

The film itself is standard text of a sports drama film with first you see the coaching of the young star, then his swift rise to the top and then the catalyst that leads to a decline before the film heads for a finish.

In this case Abrams refuses to share the wealth with Lang who is now attracting high rollers and Lang hits self destruct and starts to pick losers affecting the company and his clients who are losing big time. Of course from very early on from Pacino's full on performance as larger than life Abrams, this is a person you can never keep up with and he is in fact warned early on by Abrams's wife played by Rene Russo.

Of course the biggest problem from the outset is that we see Pacino play these characters before and you see a trail already as where this film is going. Also we have to swallow just because a person has played the game, understands the game he can call the game. In that case, surely other footballers could do the same? Sports is based on many factors such as mistakes, slips, bad calls and incidents rather than pure skill from the other side, it what makes the game exciting and difficult to predict.

So what starts as mildly interesting is as predictable as a tame roller coaster ride. Nothing too exciting but both leads have charm enough to keep you watching.

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.

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.

Al Pacino carries this film all by himself.

I can't think of a way that this could have been made without Pacino. Sure, Matthew McConaughey and Rene Russo gave convincing performances, but Pacino makes you feel sorry for the miserable, empty shell of a man he is.

The plot was amazingly intricate and well carried, but (once again) without Pacino it would not have been delivered nearly as well. I think that they should have found a way to include a small explanation as to how sports betting works, so the fans who came in just to see Pacino would be able to understand how it works. Also, at times the movie just dragged on and on and on...

I still think that Al Pacino is that movie. Pacino really extends himself the way he always does to keep the movie alive and moving. His character was one of the most miserable men I have ever seen, and while i hated him, I still identified a small part of myself with him, and that is the sign of a truly great actor.

7/10

There is a scene at the beginning of the film that seems to set the tone of "Two for the Money". We watch as Walter Abrams is talking on the phone with someone who will not be able to provide an elephant for his daughter's birthday party. Walter barks to his assistant, "Get me Ringling". When the call finally comes through, he demands to know whether he is talking to Barnum or Bailey, which is a funny line. Wasn't P.T. Barnum himself the man famous for that quotation about a sucker being born every minute?

Walter Abrams is a man who is in the sports betting business. He and his associates stand to make millions out of the jerks they pursue to do their betting with his firm. Having found a new rising star, Brandon Lang, a man that knows a lot about the intricacies of point spreads and picking winners. Walter wants to transforms him into a man who can bring more money into his outfit.

In order to do that, Walter must groom him to "look" the part. As such, Brandon becomes John Anthony, the man who can produce fabulous results every week end during the football series. Brandon gets to meet the insiders, but little does he know who he is dealing with, or much less, what is expected of him. After all, he is just as good as the winners he can produce.

The film, directed by D. J. Caruso, a man who has worked extensively in television, has a glossy look. The screen play by Dan Gilroy could have used some tighter editing, because at two hours it feels a bit long.

Al Pacino, as Walter, has some good moments; we have seen him in better roles, and this one is a composite of other things he has done before. Mr. Pacino compensates when the screen play is not going anywhere by applying an intensity that doesn't go well with the others playing opposite him. Matthew McConaughey is a light weight actor who, aside from his good looks, doesn't bring anything to this story. Rene Russo is obviously a tall woman who towers over Mr. Pacino in most of their scenes together. Their relationship doesn't come across as being a real thing. Jeremy Piven and Armand Assante make good contributions in supporting the principals.

While "Two for the Money" is by no means a horrible film, it just doesn't have anything new to say.