Two for the Money Review
In its attempt to toe the line between comedy and drama, Two for the Money unfortunately fails at both.
Al Pacino plays Walter Abrams, head of the largest sports betting advising operation in the country. He recruits Brandon Lang, a former college football star played by Matthew McConaughey, to be his newest advisor. After much persuasion from Abrams, Lang agrees to drop his small-town persona to live the action-filled life of a New York City hustler.
One of the problems with the film is although it primarily focuses on three main characters consisting of Abrams, Lang and Toni (Abrams’ wife played by Rene Russo), the characters never establish themselves, often contradicting their personality traits from one scene to the next. One moment Lang is an honest country boy trying to make an honest living, the next he’s swindling bettors out of thousands of dollars.
It’s inconsistencies like these that kill the flow of the movie and never fully allow the viewer to connect with the film. It also doesn’t help that certain plot points, such as a confrontation between Abrams and Lang, seem to be pivotal to the movie, but they fail to lead anywhere and serve no purpose in the end. For all the talk in the film of pushing limits too far, the movie fails to do so itself.
There are, however, some genuine laughs to be had in Two for the Money. The pairing of McConaughey and Pacino works out well, as the two seem to share an on-screen chemistry, which makes it all the more unfortunate that a film built around the pair fails on many levels. Given more to work with, the two actors could have really brought the characters of Abrams and Lang to life but, sadly, the writing just isn’t there to support their performances.
Surely, there’s a moral lesson about the world of gambling to be had from Two for the Money, but you would be hard pressed to find it in this mess.
PUBLISHED IN HUMBER ET CETERA 10.13.05
