Hedge your bet

Rating: 5/10 (13 October 2005)

This movie is strictly for Pacino fans. There are few redeeming features other than that, unless you enjoy watching low-lifes squeezing obscene amounts of money out of other low-lifes. I disagree with some of the others here. I found the first half of the movie more exciting than the last. Watching the young Brandon Lang/John Anthony rise up to the top of his sleazy field, was more exciting than watching him fall back down to reality. Some of the scenes were as unbelievable as the story line. I would like to see where in lower Manhattan can you drive 90 MPH during the day and not hit a bus, cab, kill someone, or have the cops chase you. Also I don't believe a sports gambling show would ever be aired on a commercial TV station - WPIX in N.Y. Also, I don't know of too many bosses who would throw so much money and perks at a young guy with a very short track record. And as far as Rene Russo is concerned, she's not nearly as sexy as the movie tried to portray her. The lightly covered love story, with the twist at the end, had as much drama and sensitivity as last month's newspaper.
Al Pacino is one of my favorite actors and one of America's greatest over the past 30 years, but he has done this role so many times in movies like "Scent of a Woman", "Donnie Brasco", and "The Devil's Advocate", that it's getting boring and clichéd. How many times can I see him as the older and wiser guy taking in a young, inexperienced protégée and trying to mold him into a younger version of himself? Enough already! Next time Al, try comedy, like DiNiro.