Hollywood loves to bet on sure things, like proven formulas and stars with a successful track record. With that in mind, Two for the Money (opening October 7 throughout San Diego) probably looked like an odds on favorite with its tale of high stakes gambling that pairs veteran player Al Pacino with the hunky young Matthew McConnaughey.
Brandon (Matthew McConnaughey) is a rising college quarterback whose career is cut short by a nasty injury. With his beloved football taken away as a career choice, Brandon doesnt know where to turn. Then through a twist of fate he starts offering football picks to needy gamblers in Vegas. His picks turn out to be right more often then they are wrong and this gets the attention of Walter (Al Pacino), a fast-talking New York operator whose business is to provide picks to gamblers on a national hotline. Walter decides to mold Brandon into John Anthony, the Million Dollar Man. This is a persona he can sell on TV and can use to increase his business. But as Brandon rises in fame and popularity, he discovers that hes out of his league.
Two for the Money begins with high energy. It takes us into a world of gamblers and offers Pacinos Walter as a driven gambling guru who know how to pray on needy customers. In these early scenes, Walter is a Svengali-like mentor who seems to be trying to turn Brandon into someone like himself only better. But too quickly the film descends into predictable shallow waters.
Director D.J. Caruso has no feel for his material or the gambling milieu. We discover that Walter is a compulsive gambler whos constantly fighting the urge to bet on something. But we never get into the grit and grime of that obsession. The urge to gamble needs to feel like a vital part of his personality rather than a superficial trait added in for color. Plus Caruso just seems to be banking on Pacino to light up the screen with the kind of contrived performance that won him an Oscar in Scent of a Woman. Caruso and writer Dan Gilroy keep taking shortcuts to develop their plot so that by the time we get to the end, we dont feel like we have really gotten to know any of the characters. The only surprise the film serves up is to not provide Brandon with any real love interest.
Pacino, however, is still fun to watch as he delivers some zingers and is compellingly energized. But the role just taps into his surface flair and never allows him to really dig for emotions. McConnaughey is just a pretty boy here, and he doesnt create any acting sparks with Pacino. As Walter says, he looks good without his shirt on, and while that may be high praise for a model its darn near insulting for an actor. Also serving as window dressing are Renee Russo and Jamie King.
Two for the Money (rated R for language and some sexual content) has an interesting story at its core but its unwilling to do the work to develop it.
