Would you step into the ring with Mike Tyson?

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2013)

At the end of the day, after we have already discussed the story, the morality, the flirt-with-the-wife arc, the ending .... at the end of the day this movie will be remembered for Matthew McConaughey's willingness to go up against Pacino. No easy feat, that. Pacino is an actor's actor, he has been stealing scenes with aplomb since his Godfather days (where, no coincidence, they based an entire segment on his character). When he is not in a film stealing scenes, he is on Broadway, or off-Broadway, honing his craft (ie, honing his ability to steal scenes.) And nature has been kind to Pacino, on top of everything else, in the last 20 years his voice has turned into a natural growl that is not only unique on the screen but helps him (you guessed it) steal even more scenes. So, into the ring walks Matthew McConaughey, an actor of wildly uneven skills, sometimes brilliant, sometimes lost (see his forays into horror) and the real issue here -- plot aside -- is, does McConaughey hold his own, or does he get chewed up with the rest of the furniture? Answer: Matthew pulls it off. Gifted with an odd sort of physicality, he does indeed hold his own in this film against the pro, and THAT is what makes this film likely to stand the test of time.