Two for the Money 2005

I am currently going through a boxset of six Al Pacino movies and this is the 2nd one I've watched, previous one being Scarface. I should have gone the other way round, because coming to this after Scarface is like drinking a good whiskey first, and then having a glass of bad apple juice. The drop in production quality and direction is huge.

This movie is not something I envisaged it to be. Plot is based on a real-life story of Brandon Lang - NFL player who ends up having a cruel injury, which essentially eliminates him from the game for good, doesn't matter how hard he tries to get back on the field, someone or something slams the door shut. He decides to use his unparelled knowledge of the professional football game to get back to the top, by plying his skills in the lucrative sports betting industry. His talent is eventually spotted by Walter Abrams (Al Pacino), the owner of the extravagant sports network. He sees Brandon as somewhat a successor & starts mentoring him. And then there's Rene Russo who plays Walter Abrams' wife as she tries really hard to protect him from detrimental lifestyle.

Premise is fine, there is a lot of potential here, especially having Al and Matthew as a lead cast - but D.J. Caruso takes you in all sorts of directions and pulls you apart piece by piece, so by the time the movie ends you have no clue what it is that you've just watched. The biggest problem I have with this movie is that it doesn't know what it wants to be, so it ends up being multiple things at once, which completely doesn't work here. There's absolutely no chemistry or dynamic between the main leads, a rather crucial element in a movie where plot is fuelled by their relationship.

The idea to observe both Brandon's and Walter's transformation into emotionally different human beings by the end of the movie was good, but execution was lacking - things are happening virtually at the snap of director's fingers - there is no build-up, no convincing story archs. Same goes for the ending, just bland. As much as I adore Rene Russo, she was miscast here - it's not really a role that suits her forte & thanks to misguided direction her character ends up just being boring and stereotypical.

Whilst betting other people's money means big rewards, there are also big risks which brings me to a story arch with character called Novian (played wonderfully by Armand Assante). Walter, using Brandon's reputation that certainly precedes him at this stage in the movie, manages to convince Novian to bet big money. Biggest in the history of Walter's sports network. However every winning streak comes to an end, and unlucky for Brandon and Walter, that's when they start losing. It's only a matter of time before bad people start knocking on their door. Or is it? It's such an underplayed story arch, it ends before it even has a chance to properly develop - Novian finds Brandon, tells him something about how he visited his mom, punches him, points a gun at him and then literally pisses all over him. That's it - you never see the guy again, he's not even mentioned in the rest of the movie, it's like it never happened.

There are plenty moments like this in "Two for the Money". That's why it was such a disappointing watch for me. Hoping for portions of at least good acting & some on-screen chemistry, all I got was undercooked performances from Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo completely missing the cues and a few underdeveloped story archs. Good things? Armand Assante for sure, Jeremy Piven enjoying himself and some golden quotes to remember. Here's one:

"You're a lemon. There is something inherently defective in you, and me, and all of us. We're all lemons. We look like everyone else, but what makes us different is our defect.”