Product Description

Academy Award winner Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey star in this adrenaline-charged thriller about the sexy, high-stakes world of sports betting, where fortunes can be made and lost with a flip of a coin.

When Brandon Lang (McConaughey) becomes the protégé of sports gambling's power player, Walter Abrams (Pacino), he swiftly becomes the golden boy of the high-rolling world for consistently picking football winners. Now, with millions on the line, he finds himself in a deadly game of con-versus-con with his new mentor.

Also starring Renee Russo and Jeremy Piven (TV's Entourage), Two For The Money sizzles with intense, non-stop thrills!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25398 in DVD
• Brand: PACINO,AL
• Released on: 2006-01-17
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 122 minutes

Amazon.com
Two for the Money has a formidable cast: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, and Rene Russo (Get Shorty) play compulsive personalities caught up in the high-testosterone world of sports betting. Brandon Lang (McConaughey, Sahara), a once-promising football player sidelined by an injury, has an uncanny knack for totting up the statistics and personalities involved in any football game and picking the winner. But he doesn't gamble himself: He offers tips via a phone line. His string of successful picks attracts the attention of Walter Abrams (Pacino, The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon), a man building a media empire on sports tips, even though he himself can only resist his own gambling addiction thanks to the fierce devotion of his wife, Toni (Russo, Tin Cup, Get Shorty). Brandon swiftly becomes Walter's protege and transforms into an aggressive, high-risk salesman, even going so far as to change his name to create a new self. But when Brandon starts to think of his knack as magic, everything Walter has built around his golden boy starts to teeter. Two for the Money starts with punchy dialogue and razzle-dazzle acting, but midway it starts to founder; the characters never quite feel real, the plot grows labored and implausible, and the basic themes--gambling, addiction--turn vague and fuzzy. The actors have charisma to burn, but they can't overcome an unfocused script. Also featuring Jeremy Piven (Entourage), Armand Assante (The Mambo Kings), and Jaime King (Bulletproof Monk). --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

For the Actors
TWO FOR THE MONEY takes on the topic of Sports Gambling and makes a serious attempt to turn it into a movie. The story is apparently based on a true one (as per the opening screen statement) but it is from the pen of Dan Gilroy that the well-drawn characters are realized. DJ Caruso (Smallville, The Salton Sea, The Shield) knows his way around matters such as these and his pacing is fine, allowing for the isolated 'arias' in the film to work well. The problem, for this viewer, is the topic: how interesting can bilking chronic gamblers over football game wagers possibly be?

The story is related by Brandon Long (Matthew McConaughey) who begins life as a sports hero and just at the moment when he is ready to break in to the Pro Football domain, he fractures his leg in a winning touchdown. Six years later, and still dreaming of making it as a player of football, finds him in the numbers game with a talent for picking winning teams and calling 900 numbers to urge gullible people t place bets according to his predictions. Enter Alter Abrams (Al Pacino), a recovering Gambler who is making it big in the sports gambling arena. He coerces Brandon to join him in New York, wines him, dines him with the aid of his smart and beautiful wife Toni (Rene Russo), and in no time Brandon Long takes on the persona of John Anthony and makes it big as a TV personality who successfully bilks willing gambling people out of their money. Long as Anthony takes on a life of his own and it is the conflagration between the creator Abrams and the protégé Anthony that fleshes out the film.

Interesting to a point, the story loses steam in the last half and we soon lose interest in the outcome or the characters. And not that that is the fault of the actors! Al Pacino is very effective as the reformed gambler still fighting demons and Rene Russo is as beautiful as ever, acting her role with complete conviction and holding what is left of the story, once started, together. Matthew McConaughey spends much of the movie without his shirt on which is a major contribution to the visuals of the film! Buff and beautiful he manages to keep the heart of Brandon Long beating inside the persona of John Anthony.

Not a great movie by any means, but some truly fine acting from the trio of stars. The supporting cast also gives solid roles despite the skimpy script. If gambling of any sort, and sports gambling in particular, is of interest to you, then this is a movie to recommend. Otherwise see it for the actors, not the story. Grady Harp, January 06

Avoiding This Film Is A Safe Bet.
There's no easy way around it. "Two For The Money" is a bad movie. A very bad movie. It pains me to say this for the following reasons. I'm an avid, life long sports fan and a great admirer of both Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey's work.

Alas, the film is a formula "hick in the big city" tale that revolves around the shark-like world of sports booking. McConaughey plays Brandon, a young studly former athlete who possesses a gift for making game picks on the 900 lines in Vegas. Pacino plays Walter, the chain smoking kingpin owner of a sports book advice line with an addictive personality. Walter catches wind of Brandon's abilities and woos him to New York to polish the diamond in the rough and make him his next golden boy. Sound interesting? It's not.

Clearly poor dialogue shares the blame, but McConaughey delivers a disappointingly shallow, paper thin performance that offers nothing for the viewer to sink his teeth into. You get the obligatory hickory smoked drawl and charming grin, some bad hair, a few gratuitous shots of his pecs and not much else. Likewise, Pacino's role is overacted, stale, stock and downright cartoonish at times. (Think "The Devil's Advocate" or "Any Given Sunday".) Rene Russo is utterly forgettable as Pacino's concerned, salon owning wife.

The film fails miserably at creating an interesting or believable depiction of its characters and the world in which they exist. Every aspect of the film has a contrived artificial feel. The few sports scenes that are in the film are almost comically unconvincing. But worst of all, the story never really seems to find its voice, leaving the viewer to wonder what the heck the movie is trying to say. By the end of the film the viewer answers his own question by saying "I really don't care."

A Good Rental
The movie is a true story about "Brandon Link/Lang" and his experience with sports gambling.

Pros
- Acting is great. Love watching Al Pacino and McConaughey acting in this one.
- Bonus with the interview with the real Brandon Link is worth watching.
- Movie is exciting half way through and educational to watch.
- Gamblers can probably relate a lot to this movie.

Con
- As someone else said, 2nd half of the movie was pretty dull and repetitive.
- The ending did not work. They tried to make it dramatic, but it just didn't work.

Overall
- Rent it.