Brandon Lane is a former college football star whose uncanny ability to predict the outcome of a game introduces him to an unexpected new career when his gridiron glory is sidelined by a crushing injury. Brandon's talent makes him a prime candidate for recruitment by Walter Abraham, the head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the country. Walter hires the small town ex-athlete and grooms him into a shrewd front man. Brandon soon begins to enjoy his status as a Manhattan golden boy and finds himself growing comfortable with Walter's high-rolling lifestyle. The surrogate father/surrogate son relationship fattens Walter's business and personal accounts...until Brandon's golden touch begins to falter at the same time that Walter's manipulation of his protégé crosses the line. With millions of dollars on the line, Brandon and Walter engage in a deadly game of con versus con, each one trying to maintain the upper hand while everyone in their world, including Walter's wife, Toni, is drawn into the escalating duel.

I can’t exactly put my finger on what I didn’t like about Two for the Money, heck its probably because it was a multitude of things. You are never emotionally invested into the characters is one thing, as they are neither likeable nor are they the anti-hero that you love to hate. They are hollow shells almost devoid of life, you do not find yourself cheering for Brandon nor do you find yourself cheering against Walter. They just aren’t cut that way, they are shallow characters, they are hollow figurines being danced before your eyes. The story is there, I mean there is enough tension in sports gambling and the lives it can ruin or elevate for that matter but the movie does not show this emotion. You are never sure who to cheer for or who to root against. It’s not like the sports team you are betting on, you know who you want to win but the movie has no hero and no villains no real winners nor losers except maybe the audience who may find themselves bored at times. They are both anti-heroes and the movie just can’t seem to decide what to do with them. The only emotion is when we find out who they really are and what they are really made up of, but by that time it is too late.

You got to love Al Pacino and the movie knows this, they want you to see him draw in his young protégé and then let him loose where he does that menacing that only Pacino can do. But that ruins the character Pacino is trying to play because his character in some morbid way does care for Brandon more than just how far he can take him. He does almost see him as his son and the menacing does not portray the father figure the character eventually tries to turn into. Matthew McConaughey on the other hand would not have been my first choice in the role but he does a good job. It’s probably because he has the smarmy vibe that his character seems to portray as well. The egotist, the bastard that we all love to hate is there in Matthew and it is also there in Brandon. So where does Rene Russo fit into all of this, she doesn’t and that’s the problem. She is like that third wheel that always keeps the cart off balance, she’s not really needed nor does she turn anything more than a mediocre performance. The movie might be suitable for a rental but its not that great of a trip to the cinemas.
2 stars out of 5