"Two for the Money" is a film based on the real life Brandon Lang (Matthew McConauhey),an ex-college athlete who had an amazing ability to predict football games. In fact, he's so good that a big-time player in New York, Walter (Al Pacino),contacts him and offers him a job. As for Walter, he owns a company that makes recommendations to gamblers....advising them who to pick for each week's games.

At first, working for Walter is fun for Brandon. After all, Walter is a strangely charismatic guy, the money's great, and Brandon's ability to pick the right games make him a bit of a star. Soon, Brandon is making huge money, nor by gambling himself but by advising folks and taking a percentage of the winnings. He's living life large. But eventually, like all good things, things start to sour. What's next? See the film.

This film is one that might not work for you. For me, it certainly didn't and for one big reason.... I didn't care one bit for the characters nor did I care what happened to them. If you love sports or sports betting, you might enjoy it a lot more. But I didn't...and just felt indifferent to what happened to everyone...at best.

By the way, you'll either love Al Pacino or you'll hate him in the film. He's very bombastic (even for Pacino) and bigger than life...and you'll likely be mesmerized or feel he's overacting. I felt it was just too much.

Six years after a career-ending injury, former college football player Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) is doing little more than a phone service for gamblers. After some amazing success, he is lured to NY to join Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) in his business of gambling predictions. It's a fast talking adrenaline junkie's business and Walter's wife Toni (Rene Russo) tries to keep ever present dangers in check.

The story isn't that exciting. The characters are questionable. The big takeaway is the acting. Matthew McConaughey is a master of this brash young guy. He works well with the master Al Pacino. Al has more intensity than the rest of the cast. And Rene Russo has that superior regal airs about her. The movie starts well, but it does slow down around the middle. It is just too long, and the second half gets quite tiresome. Maybe the Pacino intensity wore me out. At the end, I really didn't care about anybody in the movie.

Al Pacino continues his run of starring alongside a younger rising star. In Two for the Money he plays Walter Abrams, domineering, highly strung sports book adviser and former gambling addict with a dodgy heart.

Matthew McConaughey plays Brandon Lang, a former American Footballer whose out of the game permanently due to a knee injury but has an instinctive ability to call the game and game-plays.

Abrams takes Lang under his wing as his protégé, grooming him, shaping him, changing his clothes, style and even his name as Lang picks winners and attracts big time gamblers who bet more on more each week.

The film itself is standard text of a sports drama film with first you see the coaching of the young star, then his swift rise to the top and then the catalyst that leads to a decline before the film heads for a finish.

In this case Abrams refuses to share the wealth with Lang who is now attracting high rollers and Lang hits self destruct and starts to pick losers affecting the company and his clients who are losing big time. Of course from very early on from Pacino's full on performance as larger than life Abrams, this is a person you can never keep up with and he is in fact warned early on by Abrams's wife played by Rene Russo.

Of course the biggest problem from the outset is that we see Pacino play these characters before and you see a trail already as where this film is going. Also we have to swallow just because a person has played the game, understands the game he can call the game. In that case, surely other footballers could do the same? Sports is based on many factors such as mistakes, slips, bad calls and incidents rather than pure skill from the other side, it what makes the game exciting and difficult to predict.

So what starts as mildly interesting is as predictable as a tame roller coaster ride. Nothing too exciting but both leads have charm enough to keep you watching.