Two for the Money

Matthew McConaughey is Brandon Lang, a former college football star who devastated his knee and was never able to play professionally. Six years later he's recording "sports predictions" for a 1-900 number in Las Vegas and living with his mom and younger brother, still dreaming of playing professional football one day. He never hears from the Cowboys, but he does get a call from Walter Abrams (the Godfather himself, Al Pacino), an entrepreneur who runs his own sports betting business, inviting him to move to New York and work for him.

Though Brandon Lang is the hero of the story, Walter Abrams is the beating heart of Two For The Money. He's a recovered gambling addict who runs his own empire of "sports betting advisers." No other film has ever explored the psyche of the gambling addict so precisely and intimately. Abrams describes what it feels like to win, but even more fascinatingly, he discusses the addict's subconscious desire to loose it all. Gambling addicts don't bury themselves in debt because they're sure they can win. They do it because they need to loose everything to feel alive.

Two For The Money is better than I expected. The characters are rich and complex and the story is never dull. Hell, this movie is worth seeing for the topless McConaughey shots alone.