Two for the Money

Directed by D.J. Caruso

Universal Pictures

2.5 Stars



Al Pacino in manic mode is arguably the best on-screen energizer working today.

Redoing his schtick as a possibly corrupt businessman (see “The Devil’s Advocate”) seems like a sure bet. But even Pacino in hyper-speed, and co-star Matthew McConaughey, is not enough to save D.J. Caruso’s (“Taking Lives”) latest film, “Two for the Money,” a mediocre spin on the sports drama genre.

McConaughey plays Brandon Lane, an ex-college quarterback whose knee injury permanently removes him from the playing field. Washed up, stuck in a cubical that “looks like a Turkish prison,” Brandon’s luck finally changes when he receives a call from big-time sports-betting magnate Walter Abraham (Al Pacino).

Walter works off of one principle: “Know what you know, know what you don’t know, and know that everything you know I gotta know as soon as you know it.” While he’s talking about Brandon’s betting picks, this line is really the rule for the relationship between Brandon and his mentor.

At first Brandon is willing to give complete control to Walter, even letting his boss transform him into the flashier, sexier “John Anthony” to boost business. Gradually, he comes to realize that Walter and his company are riding on his success, a process that rides the real Brandon into the ground.

As Brandon tries to break away from Walter, he begins to lose his predictive powers, sending both the betting organization and the movie’s plot into chaos. Brandon is caught between saving himself, saving the people he hates, and escaping the duplicitous world of sports betting.

Since I am a sports fan, the many, many scenes of high-stakes college football in this movie should have enthralled me. Since I am a lover of drama, the convoluted love triangle between Walter’s wife, Toni (Rene Russo), Brandon, and Walter should have kept me on the edge of my seat or at least, interested. And yet, more often than not, I found myself checking my watch.

The weird sexual subplot between youthful Brandon Lane and middle-aged Toni Abraham is unbelievable and kind of grotesque. As Walter says in the movie to his wife, “I’m like Brandon’s father… I guess that would make you his mother, right, Toni?” Never mind their roles and the standards set by Demi Moore/Ashton Kutcher; Russo is too old for McConaughey, period.

Although Pacino’s genuine performance and hilarious one-liners prevent the movie from hitting snake-eyes, the canned dialogue kills the shot at lucky sevens. The screenplay extends the constant betting metaphors way too far: when Toni says, “You played me, Walter. You were gambling with me that night, Walter, you were gambling with me,” no one watching will take her seriously.

Even though “Two for the Money” is a serious movie about high-stakes football with millions on the line, it is seriously lacking in drama. The games simply seem repetitive and the power struggle between Pacino and McConaughey is relied on too often as the mechanism of suspense.

Because Pacino and McConaughey dominate the screen, any “Entourage” fan going for co-star Jeremy Piven (Ari) will be disappointed: he barely gets a word in edgewise. If you like Pacino or McConaughey as something other than a sweet-talking, hot-bodied hunk, however, go see it. You’ll get Pacino as usual and McConaughey as an asshole. For interests other than that, you might just have the feeling you wasted your money and the time you could have spent watching real college football.