Review: Two For The Money (B)

Two For The Money (2005)
Directed by D.J. Caruso
Starring Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo, Armand Assante and Jeremy Piven
MPAA: R
Grade: B

Review by Bobby Nashville

I love fantasy football and there is a not too distant relationship between fantasy football and gambling. Basically, in fantasy football you are gambling on the performance of an individual player, but with straight up gambling, you usually are choosing a team to win. The point here? The point is that I know a little bit about football and I came into Two For The Money expecting to see a film that did not have the "feel" of gambling down right. But I was wrong. Two For The Money captures the excitement of picking winners and losers perfectly. It's not Citizen Kane of course, but it's damn entertaining.

Matthew McConaughey stars as Brandon Lang, a former college football star that takes a job as a football predictor. He joins up with a big time operation run by Walter Abrams, played by Al Pacino (Carlito's Way, Glengarry Glen Ross, Insomnia). He changes his name to John Anthony and starts running the tables with excellent picks. As his career takes off, he starts to change and finds himself crossing the line. The plot is fairly simple, but like I said, it's damn entertaining.

Two For The Money features some great supporting performances here from Rene Russo and Armand Assante. McConaughey has turned in some good acting before, most notably in Thirteen Conversations About One Thing and Frailty. He does another good job here and his performance has some depth. Of course, Al Pacino is excellent (isn't he always?). The character here is a cross between Ricky Roma from Glengarry Glen Ross and his aging, vulnerable character in Donnie Brasco (an underrated film, by the way).

Two For The Money is a good film with solid acting and tight direction. Two For The Money is a pleasant surprise.