Two for the Money (2005 film)

Two for the Money
Theatrical release poster
Directed byD. J. Caruso
Written byDan Gilroy
Produced byJames G. Robinson
Starring
CinematographyConrad W. Hall
Edited byGlen Scantlebury
Music byChristophe Beck
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • October 7, 2005 (2005-10-07)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million
Box office$30.5 million[1]

Two for the Money is a 2005 American sports drama film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo, Armand Assante and Carly Pope. The film is about the world of sports gambling. It was released on October 7, 2005. It is the first Morgan Creek movie distributed by Universal Pictures since Coupe de Ville in 1990. It is loosely based upon an employee at Stu Feiner's handicapping business.

Plot

Brandon Lang is a former college football star based out of Las Vegas who, after sustaining a career-ending knee injury, takes a job handicapping football games to help support his mother and younger brother. His success at choosing winners catches the eye of Walter Abrams, who is the head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the United States. Walter offers him a job in New York and Brandon takes take the offer. with Lang's in-depth knowledge of the game, leagues and players brings in big winnings and bigger clients and soon starts making tremendous amounts of money.

Walter soon takes Brandon under his wing and Brandon soon becomes close with both Walter and his wife Toni. Walter remakes Brandon's into a new persona the slick John Anthony who he soon features on Abrams's cable television show, The Sports Advisors, infuriating Jerry Sykes, who, until now, has been Walter's in-house expert and best seller.

One night while at dinner with Walter and Toni. Brandon see the beautiful Alexandria at another table Walter makes a bet with Brandon that he can't get her to go home with him. Brandon works his charms on Alexandria and the two end up sleeping together.

As Brandon becomes closer to Walter and Toni he learns that that Walter is a recovering gambling addict and Toni is an ex junkie and as Brandon continues to succeed he attracts the attention of high-rolling gambler C.M. Novian whom he convinces to take his picks with 20 million dollars in bets which all pay off earning Walter's firm 2 million dollars.

And when Brandon asks Walter for a bigger cut of the money Walter states he has not earned it and even when does earn it he will fight him tooth and nail before he will give him anything. Dejected Brandon goes to see Alexandria only to learn that she is a prostitute that Walter paid to sleep with him.

After this things begin to go bad, when Lang begins playing his hunches instead of doing his homework. He loses his touch, picking nothing but losers for 2 weeks straight eventually being physically assaulted by Novian and one of his thugs after losing 30 million dollars by following Lang's advice. Brandon also learns that Walter began to gamble again using his picks and is now in major debt. As a result, Abrams and Lang's once-solid relationship sours.

As the weeks pass, Lang continues to fail to pick winners and Walter starts becoming more unhinged firing Sykes and suspects that Lang is having an affair with Toni. As Toni suggests that Brandon just leave before Walter self destructs and destroys them both but Lang wants to make one more pick on the last game of the season to try and make things right. He then makes a predictions at the last minute by nervously flipping a coin. Walter then puts more pressure on the pick by guaranteeing money back on to his customers if they lose on the pick.

While Abrams and the rest of the staff nervously watch the game, Lang leaves before the game is over and takes a plane out of New York City leaving Walter a goodbye letter. At the last play of the game, Brandon's pick pays off. After the game, Walter confronts Toni about the affair to which she reveals that nothing happened and the two reconcile. We later see that Brandon has begun coaching a junior league football team.

Cast

Reception

Two for the Money received generally negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 22% of critics give the film positive reviews, based on 109 reviews, with an average score of 4.7/10. Its consensus states: "Despite its sportsmanlike swagger, Two for the Money's aimless plot isn't worth betting on."[2] The film also got mixed-to-average reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, where it scored 50 out of a 100, based on 29 critical reviews.[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[4]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ stars out of 4,[5] while Nick Schager of Slant Magazine gave it 2 out of 4, saying in his opening comments, "Substitute The Devil's Advocate's satanic legal scheming with unethical sports gambling practices and you've got Two for the Money."[6] Two for the Money also received 48% from Cinafilm, which based it on 507 reviews,[7] as well as a C from Reeling Reviews.[8]

The film's box-office receipts came to $22,991,379 in the United States and $30,526,509 worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million.[1]

Home media

Two for the Money was released on DVD and VHS on January 17, 2006. It is the last film released by Morgan Creek Productions to receive a VHS release.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Two for the Money (2005)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  2. ^ "Two for the Money (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 10, 2024.
  3. ^ "Two for the Money". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  4. ^ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Two for the Money" in the search box). CinemaScore. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger (October 6, 2005). "Place your bets on Pacino". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  6. ^ Schager, Nick (October 3, 2005). "Review: Two for the Money". Slant Magazine.
  7. ^ "Two for the Money (2005)". Cinafilm. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  8. ^ "Two for the Money". Reeling Reviews. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
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