''Two for the Money'' is a 2005 American

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

D. J. Caruso Daniel John Caruso Jr. (; born January 17, 1965) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. His work encompasses a variety of genres, including thriller ('' Disturbia, Taking Lives''), drama ('' Standing Up''), horror (''The Disap ...

and starring

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

Rene Russo Rene Marie Russo (born February 17, 1954) is an American actress and model. She began her career as a fashion model in the 1970s, appearing on magazine covers such as ''Vogue'' and ''Cosmopolitan''. She made her film debut in the 1989 comedy '' ...

Armand Assante Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (; born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film '' Gotti'', Odysseus in the 1997 mini-series adaptation of Homer's ''The Odyssey'', Nietzsche in ''When ...

, and

Carly Pope Carly Pope (born August 28, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles on The WB's drama series ''Popular'' (1999–2001), supernatural drama series ''The Collector'' (2004–2005), USA Network's legal drama series '' Suits'' ...

. The film is about the world of

sports gambling Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

. It was released on October 7, 2005. This was the first Morgan Creek movie distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

since ''

Coupe de Ville A coupe or coupé (, ) is a passenger car with a sloping or truncated rear roofline and two doors. The term ''coupé'' was first applied to horse-drawn carriages for two passengers without rear-facing seats. It comes from the French past parti ...

'' in 1990.

Plot

Brandon Lang is a former college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

star who, after sustaining a career-ending injury, takes a job

handicapping Handicapping, in sport and games, is the practice of assigning advantage through scoring compensation or other advantage given to different contestants to equalize the chances of winning. The word also applies to the various methods by which th ...

football games. His success at choosing winners catches the eye of Walter Abrams, the slick head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the United States. Walter takes Brandon under his wing, and soon they are making tremendous amounts of money. Lang's in-depth knowledge of the game, leagues, and players brings in big winnings and bigger clients. Abrams's cable television show, ''The Sports Advisors'', skyrockets in popularity when he adds Lang's slick "John Anthony" persona to the desk, infuriating Jerry Sykes, who up to now has been Walter's in-house expert. Lang's total image is remade with a new car, new wardrobe, and a new look, with the assistance of Walter's wife, Toni, a hair stylist. Things suddenly go south, however, when Lang begins playing his hunches instead of doing his homework. He loses his touch and is even physically assaulted by the thugs of a gambler who lost a great deal of money following Lang's advice. Abrams and Lang's once-solid relationship sours. Lang's new high-rolling lifestyle depends entirely on his ability to predict the outcomes of the games. Millions are at stake by the time he places his last bet, and Abrams, a recovering gambling addict and alcoholic, grows increasingly unstable. He secretly begins gambling all of his own money on Lang's picks and becomes suspicious that Lang is having an affair with his wife. The film concludes with Lang's predictions coming true for the last game, both of which he allegedly determines by flipping coins in a bathroom, as he leaves

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and takes a job as

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of a junior league football team.

Cast

as Walter Abrams *

as Brandon Lang *

as Toni Abrams *

as C.M. Novian *

as Tammy *

Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series ''Entourage'', for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the British ...

as Jerry Sykes *

Jaime King Jaime King (born April 23, 1979) is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency alread ...

as Alexandria *

Ralph Garman Ralph Garman (born November 17, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, saxophonist, drummer and radio host best known as the host of ''The Joe Schmo Show'', for his voice work on the Fox animated series ''Family Guy'', former entertainment reporte ...

as Reggie *Charles Carroll as Chuck Adler *Ildiko Ferenczi as Friend *

Veena Sood Veena Sood (born 21 November), is a Canadian actress. Sood is best known for dramatic and comedic roles in a career spanning more than 3 decades. Early life and education She was born on 21 November in Nairobi, Kenya. Her father was a doctor a ...

as G.A. Hostess

Reception

''Two for the Money'' received generally negative reviews from critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 22% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 110 reviews with an average score of 4.7/10. Its consensus states that "Despite its sportsmanlike swagger, ''Two for the Money''s aimless plot isn't worth betting on." The film's box office receipts came to only $22,991,379 in the United States and $30,526,509 worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million. The film also got mixed to average reviews on

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, where it scored 50 out of a 100, based on 29 critical reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film 3.5 out of 4, while Nick Schager of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' gave it 2 out of 4, and 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." ''Two for the Money'' also received 48% from Cinafilm, who was basing it on 507 reviews, as well as a C from Reeling Reviews.

Home media

''Two for the Money'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

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

References

External links

* * {{Dan Gilroy 2005 crime drama films American crime drama films American football films 2000s English-language films Films directed by D. J. Caruso Films scored by Christophe Beck Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films about gambling Morgan Creek Productions films Films with screenplays by Dan Gilroy Universal Pictures films 2005 drama films 2005 films 2000s American films