Two For The Money
Picture: C+
Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C-
Al Pacino is one of the greatest actors of his or any
other generation, who at one time was one of the cleverest and choosiest of
actors. When he hit a dry spell between
Brian De Palma’s Scarface remake (1983) and career-reviving Sea Of
love (1989), he began to take more commercial roles in Dick Tracy, Simone
and The Devil’s Advocate. He
still took edgy, risky working in Heat, The Insider and obvious
choices like Godfather III and Scent Of A Woman. Unfortunately, his new gambling film Two
For The Money (2005) is one of those commercially broad roles he would have
passed on in early years and tries to play on every post-Scarface
stereotype about him as the slick guy who knows all the angles, is up to no
good, smiles like a cat getting away with everything and looks like every third
line he speaks will have him yelling “Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
He even gives a few of the “know-it-all” obligatory
speeches that used to be guaranteed to deliver a wallop, but too often have
become a moment of camp. The film
loosely based on the true story of former football quarterback Brandon Lang
(Matthew McConaughey) who becomes a gambling forecasting ace when coming under
the wing of Pacino’s guidance. The
connection never clicks, chemistry never happens, story feels second rate and
we have seen it all before in bad films like Boiler Room and much better
epics like Martin Scorsese’s Casino.
Renee Russo, Armand Assante and Jeremy Piven also star in a film that is
much more bling and flash than substance or anything new. Too bad, because new things could have been
done with this scenario if they had a better script, plus the cast is very
likable and the budget is obviously there.
Then there is the journey of Matthew McConaughey, who
continues to have a remarkably consistent career despite the vast majority of
his films tanking, like Sahara, The Newton Boys, Larger Than
Life, The Wedding Planner, Reign Of Fire and ED-TV. Yet, Hollywood keeps sticking by him and
2006 looks like he will set a record for roles in released films for one
year. Though he has been a name for a
decade now, he is still now a big star.
Many know the name more than the face.
He is not so great here either, but has fared better in the likes of A
Time To Kill, Contact, Amistad and the problematic hit U-571. Like Heath Ledger, he needs to break out of
the male bimbo role, though that does not mean he needs to find a Brokeback
Mountain specifically but anything to break his repetition in the same role
and performance over and over. It dulls
him and does not bring out the best in him.
The camera likes him somewhat and we can only hope he’ll find his way before
he runs out of luck.
The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 transfer is a disappointment,
looking softer than it should on DVD and especially compared to the 35mm
theatrical prints, not doing justice to the cinematography work by Conrad W.
Hall that makes the whole thing more bearable.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 fares a bit better with its awkward selection of
classic hits and so-so Christophe Beck score.
Extras include deleted scenes, trailers for this and other Universal
releases, TV spots for this film, interviews, multi-part look at the film and
feature length audio commentary by the director and writer. Because the actual Brandon Lang is featured
among those, it is more interesting than the film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
