Two For the Money A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - R It's 2:02 Long A Review by The Dude on the Right

"Two For the Money" gives us Brandon (McConaughey). He’s pretty close to having his quarterback dream come true, up until the last play of the bowl game (it pretty much sucks when your leg kinda breaks in a direction it wasn’t meant to break). Convinced he can still make it as a pro quarterback, Brandon does his best to stay in tip-top shape only to get rejection letter after rejection letter after every tryout. To pass the time and make a buck or two, he works at a gloomy company that does recordings for 1-900 numbers. One day he has to fill in for the dude who makes football picks, decides to make his own, and we find that Brandon is right pretty much about 80% of the time. But he’s in small-time-ville, especially for someone with such a gift. Enter Walter (Pacino). From afar he has found out about Brandon’s ability, and recruits Brandon to come and work for him. So it’s off to New York City for Brandon, and the big city life.

At first Walter gives Brandon a test run, just doing recordings again, but in doing so, he also makes Brandon change his persona from a lowly "Marlboro Man," as Walter describes him when they first meet, to John Anthony, the Million Dollar Man who can make your dreams come true because he has the picks you need to win your betting pool. Quickly Walter sees the talent of Brandon, and further grooms him into John Anthony, with Brandon eventually turning into this character he didn’t think he could really become. He gets the style, he gets the swagger, he gets the cockiness, and suddenly Brandon is slick, making lots of cash, driving a cool car, and banging hot chicks.

But things aren't as cut and dry as the movie trailer shows. We find that Walter is sick, and not just from his many addictions. We find that his wife, Toni (Rene Russo), does her best to keep Walter from collapsing into himself. And we find that Brandon is really being set up to take over the business from Walter, that Walter considers Brandon, or more John Anthony, his son, and all being done as long as Brandon keeps getting his sports picks right. And yea, you can guess it, Brandon goes on a bit of a losing streak, pretty much at the worst time.

I’ll let the rest of the film play out for you if you do catch this one, and I recommend you do, especially if you like a decent drama, can appreciate a great Al Pacino rant, and since there really is more to this movie than my synopsis gives. Matthew McConaughey does a great job at showing the transformation of the humble Brandon to the slick John, Rene Russo does a great job at showing her difficulty and struggles as she works to save the man she loves, and Pacino does a fabulous job being the Pacino I like.

With all of that, I’m giving "Two For the Money" 4 stars out of 5. Look, I’ll be first to admit that Walter’s business model doesn’t seem to be that great, but maybe it really is closer to reality because you just wonder how these dudes hawking how they can pick the winners on radio and TV can make a buck. But, I suppose if your talent is being able to consistently pick the winners, and with all of the gambling that is out there, I guess people would gladly pay you for your opinion. I just wonder if those folks are as cruel and ruthless as some of the folks Walter has working in his organization.  I really don't plan on finding out.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!