Two for the Money (2005)

Waste of time

The Worst Film Ever

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story itself is interesting but nothing special, a yarn about a Vegas college footballer who becomes the prodigy of a New York betting shark, lifted above mediocrity by two superb masterclasses in acting from Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey. Truth is there's no likable people here, and the cloying, against-all-the-odds ending is in poor taste. But the performances make it worth seeing at least once, Pacino in particular is having a blast as the wise-cracking shark and Matthew McConaughey is no slouch here either. Just a shame the story isn't that captivating, unless betting on football games is your thing.

There are myriad movies about a young man who has an amateur's gift for something. Then he enters the big leagues, the enterprise becomes demystified, he faces inner or outer demons, overcomes them, achieves momentous success, and returns to his roots, a man in full.That's pretty much the tale of McConaughey, an amiable naif giving comments and advice on a backwoods radio program who's talent is for figuring out who's going to win football games.He gets a call from Al Pacino, who runs -- well, I don't know what the enterprise can be called. It's a large room full of experts on football who sell betting odds over the phone, rather like stockbrokers, only this is serious money. Pacino is expansive and seductive, almost a reprise of his role in "The Devil's Advocate." He takes over McConaughey's life, buys him expensive suits, advertises him, and puts him on a TV show. Pacino's wife, Rene Russo, takes a shine to McConaughey too, but nothing untoward happens. McConaughey's a likable guy -- until he gets cocky, superior, and begins to take time off to play golf. A series of failures bring down both him and Pacino, until the climactic Big Win.The characters are superbly written by Dan Gilroy, and the dialog sounds like the Fourth of July parade in Disneyland. The violent language sparkles with a hilarious profanity. Pacino's metaphors rise to the heights of poetry. I can't reproduce any here.The score is unobtrusive, the location shooting evocative without showing off, and Conrad Hall's seasoned photography catches it all nicely on celluloid.All the performances, major and minor, are fine but there are times when it's hard to discern a character's motivation. Pacino and McConaughey have a complex relationship, switching back and forth between deep affection and creeping suspicion. The switches sometimes come too quickly and for reasons that remain murky. I don't know why Pacino embraces McConaughey instead of just kicking his ass out, when McConaughey comes up with a string of losers, and I don't know the significance of making big bets on the flip of a coin (twice). Last scene: a refurbished and renewed McConaughey in old clothes, a pack slung over his shoulder, a smile on his face, boarding the airplane that will take him back to San Placebo where life is simpler and he can become a middle-school coach with perspective.The story doesn't link its episodes together very well but the pieces on occasion become works of art. Not majestic works of art, but not Grandma Moses either.

'Two for the money' is based on the story of Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey), a promising football player who suffers a serious injury, and while recovering and trying to make a living discovers he has a big talent in guessing how the matches turn out. He's hired by Walter Abrams (Al Pacino), the owner of a big betting agency, who helps turning him into a personality and earning loads of money. But as he gets more and more successful, things get out of control and he doesn't know who he is anymore.Well, for me the whole thing just didn't work at all. The plot is absolutely shallow and predictable and there are just too many clichés. I can't believe anyone still bases a movie on the 'how-far-will-I-go-before-I-lose-myself' routine. The pace of the film is awful, being exciting only in the beginning; the viewer will quickly lose his interest in the continuity of things. There's also what for me seems to be an unrealistic fact in the film – how come a beginner in the betting business gets to rise so fast and gets so much investment out of nowhere? – it's either an incoherence or more time should've been spent in explaining Brandon's career beginning.To add up to the terrible script there's the fact that Matthew McConaughey is absolutely untalented and just doesn't have what it takes to lead a film that isn't a chick flick. Perhaps that is even more transparent when you're acting beside Al Pacino. His entire character is a cliché. On the other hand there's Al's part which he plays as well as usual. It's not a special or unforgettable performance, but in my opinion he was prejudiced by his character. Both his and McConaughey's parts are poorly built; Al's the most, and I got completely confused on what I was suppose to think about Walter Abrams. Is he a nice guy with a gambling problem and some psychological issues or is he a greedy, lying bastard who will do anything for his benefit? I didn't know whether to root for the leading man or the supporting actor– though I'll always pick Al, that's for sure.The only good couple of moments in this film in my opinion were the ones that focused on Al and Rene Russo, who although barely appears in the film, works well. Their relationship is one of the few convincing facts in this movie. Other than that there is actually a nice message at the end of the film regarding self-destruction.Al can't perform miracles !

We all know the sales pitches: some guy with a 900 number tells you he's hitting 82 percent on the year, and you can have his picks for this weekend for one "low" price (compared to what you win!). He'll even give you a free game to get you started, and if that game doesn't win, he'll call the guy he gave the other side to and sign him up instead.Two For The Money sanitized the sports **touting** industry (what this film is really about), and it glorified, by portraying as successful, what is at best a guy who had a winning year or two, something bound to happen when your phone banks have fifty guys.This film is based on a very true story, with the names and backstories only slightly changed. The "quarterback" Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughy) is based on someone certainly never known much as one, but who may have played the game. Not that this matters, as your tout customers don't care about your life story, only if you can win for them, and Lang delivers through his Vegas-based 900 number.New York tout king Walter Abrams, played in deliciously over-the-top fashion by Al Pacino, brings the over-the-top nature of the industry to life, not only the touts who make misleading claims (13-2 the last 15 means nothing and they don't tell you about the 2-13), but also the customers who demand the moon of guaranteed riches for a small fee. Renee Russo (Toni) gives her usually lame performance, like a double-digit NFL favorite mailing in a last-minute field goal to win.As a "public handicapper" (I do horses and I make no guarantees), I quickly found the film engaging, particularly its correct focus on how Lang handles the pressure of risking other people's money through his picks. Scam artist or not, any tout always wants his clients to win, because they will gladly pay him well and he'll know he's earned it. It's when the bad times come that the tout's world becomes a living hell, knowing he just sent his followers into the poorhouse, even though that's because they were risking too much to begin with.The other theme in the film is how Walter Abrams is always looking ahead to next Sunday as if he were just dropped out of the womb and nothing bad had ever happened to him. He knows that even the guys who curse him out will send him money again, and he will win again, sometimes, someday, hopefully, and at 1;00 every Sunday in the fall, the circus will start anew with him front and center, his business acumen saving him from his darker and more expensive urges. Sure, he's living on the edge, but he wouldn't have it any other way, because more than anything else, Walter Abrams was addicted to the thrills, while Brandon Lang was just looking for a job. The contrast is phenomenal and striking.