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Two for
the Money has a formidable cast: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, and Rene Russo
(The Thomas Crown Affair ) 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.
He doesn't gamble himself: He offers tips via a
phone line. His string of successful picks attracts the attention of Walter
Abrams (Pacino), 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.
A phone call from Abrams moves Brandon
swiftly into becoming Walter's protege and transforms him into an aggressive,
high-risk salesman, even going so far as to change his name to create a new
self. |
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Brandon's talent
shines even as the pressure to land bigger clients increases with Abrams
bulging desire for huge success with his new sports picker. The rise culminates
landing the biggest sports bettor in the world.
The film up to now has
flown along with punchy dialogue and razzle-dazzle acting and a really very
'sweet' scene when the pair visit a GA (Gamblers Anonymous) meeting. Here it
starts to founder; the characters never quite feel real, the plot grows
laboured and implausible, and the basic themes of gambling and addiction start
to turn vague, fuzzy and even non-existent. |
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Leaving the ending
to the viewer, we can say the film really is enjoyable and bad reviews are
clearly from those people who do not understand gambling or don't approve of
it. Sad people. The director ran out of ideas of the point, theme and ending
but there is plenty of humour to get you to the end of the
film.
Impressive cast, like the movie itself, delivers unevenly - 7/10
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| Director |
D.J.
Caruso |
Al
Pacino |
Walter
Abrams |
| Writing |
Dan
Gilroy |
Matthew McConaughey |
Brandon
Lang |
| Cinematography |
Conrad
W. Hall |
Rene
Russo |
Toni
Morrow |
| Film
Editing |
Glen
Scantlebury |
Jeremy Piven |
Jerry |
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Ellen
Barkin |
Calamity
Jane |
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Main Menu
