Despite considerable evidence from
the past century in cinema, the formulaic nature of the Hollywood approach to
its subjects does not necessarily doom a movie to the usual slick pageant of
stereotypical characters and situations, with appropriately shallow thought and
emotion.
Innumerable works of art, both high
and low, without descending into the hackneyed repetition of stale material
from sterile imaginations, depend upon the comforting persistence of well known
patterns and familiar people. Although the new film Two for the Money reveals its debts to several other movies, within
that imitation it also displays an entertaining originality and attains a high
degree of artistic success.
Its basic situation of a gifted young
tyro undergoing instruction from a master of arcane arts recalls many fictional
and cinematic narratives from the past. It initially resembles Wall Street, in which Michael Douglas
tutored Charlie Sheen in the intricacies of the stock market and the value of
greed. In starring Al Pacino as Walter Abrams, the teacher of Brandon Lang (Matthew
McConaughey) it also resembles The
Devil’s Advocate, in which a Satanic Pacino corrupted Keanu Reeves. In its
portrayal of the dangerous and destructive appeal of gambling it belongs with
the two best cinematic studies of that particular addiction, Robert Altman’s California Split and the more recent
independent flick, Owning Mahowny.
McConaughey, who narrates the
picture, plays a former college football star whose serious leg injury prevents
him from succeeding in the pros. After bouncing from tryout to tryout, he works
as a telemarketer in Las Vegas and dreams of making some sort of career in
arena football or the Canadian league. A stroke of luck enables him to apply
his knowledge of the game and his shrewdness as a handicapper to picking winning
teams for callers who pay for the service. His success attracts the attention
of Walter Abrams, who summons him to New York to work for his highly successful
sports book, picking games, figuring point spreads, and predicting the total
points scored in NFL games.
Christened with a new name by the
boss and initiated into the subtleties of the business, Brandon rises rapidly,
ascending from telephone pitchman to television tout on Abrams’ weekly show.
His phenomenal success earns him and Walter a great deal of money, and he
begins to enjoy all the trappings of the good life in the big city; more
important, he and Walter establish a relationship far beyond that of employer
and employee. In the process of teaching Brandon the tricks of his trade,
Walter makes his protรฉgรฉ a member of his family, turning him into the son he
never had and becoming for Brandon a surrogate for the father who abandoned him
in childhood.
As Brandon learns the methods and
jargon of the business, the movie shows the fascinating workings of an
organization that reaps profits, not from betting, but from advising bettors.
As long as Brandon sustains his success predicting the weekly outcomes, he and
Walter and his customers prosper, but when some emotional shocks turn him
careless and sloppy, he comes to understand how the business ruins lives,
including his own. He also finds himself in danger from a wealthy gangster who
lost millions of dollars on his advice.
Within its portrayal of the
relationship between the two men Two for
the Money really serves as a kind of case study of addiction. Walter and
his wife Toni (Rene Russo), for example, are addicts — she’s a former junkie
and Walter a reformed gambler — and the business itself depends on the
compulsion of degenerate gamblers for its profits.
In a shocking and funny moment,
Walter takes Brandon to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, where he delivers an
eloquent confession-lecture about their problem and his understanding of
addiction, then hands out his business cards for any of the people who in effect
fall off the wagon and need some good tips.
The greatest joy of Two for the Money, not surprisingly,
originates in Al Pacino’s brilliant impersonation of Walter Abrams, which
simply dominates the movie. His series of brilliant set pieces, little essays
on a number of subjects, including how to sell the service to a customer, how
to work on television, and above all, on the nature of gambling itself, create
a remarkable combination of comedy, irony, passion, and heartbreaking truths.
It’s a bravura performance and
nothing in the movie, however good, even approaches it in quality or effect, a
truly amazing piece of acting.
Two for the Money(R), directed by
D. J. Caruso, is playing at Canandaigua Theatres, Culver Ridge 16, Henrietta
18, Tinseltown USA.
This article appears in Oct 12-18, 2005.
