Losing bet for viewers

Rating: 2/10 (9 May 2007)

* Spoiler alert *
As astounding waste of time, talent and yes, money, "Two for the Money" varies from predictable to preposterous to unpleasant without pausing for entertainment.
A top-flight cast, plus Matthew McConaughey, tries to put a palatable spin on the saga of a sports betting firm preying on gullible customers who should instead be in Gamblers Anonymous.
Scriptwriter Dan Gilroy has a strong facility for finding old clichés in new settings, crafting a tale of boy-meets-boy, boy-makes-boy-money, boy-loses-boy-money, oh-who-cares.
McConaughey is a washed-up football player trying to rehabilitate an injury and making ends meet through a betting tips show. There's a surface plausibility that he has some insights into college football as a former player, which gets him customers.
In swoops Al Pacino as the owner of a high-flying betting service. He brings Matthew to New York to pick pro games, setting him up with a posh apartment and work-out room to offer beefcake shots of McConaughey for his fans of various lifestyles.
Gedde Watanabe stands in for all the hapless betters relying on the service. When McConaughey hits big with his initial picks, Watanabe gets gulled into anteing up more. Unfortunately, the power goes to Matt's pretty head. Immediately. He has one good week, and then is off to play golf instead of researching games.
Pacino is fine with this. Infatuated with his new boy toy, he fires long-time associate Jeremy Piven. Rene Russo plays Al's very tolerant wife _ you see, she knows that he's a gambling addict himself. There's no difference between Al and his customers, except that he's taking their money to enable his own bets. Always watchable, Piven gets out of the movie with his dignity intact, and Russo is her usual reliable self.
But Pacino is in full "hoo-ha" mode as he tries to inject some life into his empty character. At that, Gilroy gives him more to work with then the rest of the cast. As one of Al's employees, super-skinny Carly Pope stands around in the background of multiple scenes while getting perhaps 10 words of dialogue. Her big scene is sliding into McConaughey's lap to kiss him for his good work. One can't help thinking of Susan St. James snuggling up with Rock Hudson in "McMillan and Wife."
Gilroy's script is so inept that he can't even realistically portray the ebb-and-flow of games. After things go wrong and McConaughey tries to get back on track, there's a scene where the football team he's picked goes up over the spread with two minutes to play. It's just the sort of situation in a real game where the other team would push for a quick score. But in Gilroy's world, Matt's colleagues immediately start celebrating their success, and then are stunned when the other team scores. (And of course, the teams playing are always "New York," never Houston or Tampa Bay.)
By the end, after ruining Watanabe, getting threatened by mobster types, and (attention guys!) showing off more of his physique, McConaughey decides to return to oblivion, but not without leaving Al his very special Super Bowl pick. Will Pacino use it and keep his shell game afloat? Never has a big game seemed so small.