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Al Pacino's 'Money' is going to need to get lucky
October 7, 2005 11:04:32 AM
For a movie starring Al Pacino when he's approaching emeritus status, "Two for the Money" sounds like somebody's desperate third choice for a title. This one belongs on a '40s comedy whose poster features a fresh-faced couple, greenbacks floating in the air and, in the background, a racehorse. Maybe even a talking one.
So it's a mild surprise that what we get on screen is a clone of Oliver Stone's 1987 "Wall Street." This shakier variation follows the same parabolic fortunes of a hot young hopeful in a turbulent cash-cow profession, corrupted and mentored at work by a suspect role model. Of course, part of the movie's problem is that the youngster Matthew McConaughey) takes a lot longer than we do to spot cavernous chinks in the Al armor.
McConaughey plays a broke college football player who has to drop out of school after an injury, and better this acting chore than trying to carry every grain of spring's miserable "Sahara" on his back. McConaughey will never be an actor who lets you into his soul, but he's credible as a good ole boy who knows how to pick winners and point spreads in the flood of televised games that makes sports gambling more of a gazillion dollar industry than society likes to admit.
Pacino, behind a lot of Oz-like smoke and mirrors, hosts a cable show that's akin to those televised half-hour rundowns that offer unsure investors financial advice, which in a way is what he's doing. He grooms protege McConaughey to be flashier than the down-home type he is, gives him a new name and touts the kid's picks as an 80 percent sure thing for listeners. All for an 800-number phone call and a piece of any bettor's winnings.
The movie has a lot of built-in flash and is thus mildly entertaining, though the running time (123 minutes) grinds it down. What's more, its only novel components are a couple side issues: Pacino is a reformed gambling addict himself, while his hair stylist wife (Rene Russo, her first film in three years) has to be his keeper and deal with her own sordid past. Both are wobbling on the precipice.
Other than its current ad blitz on the sports channels, this isn't a movie garnering much buzz and Universal hasn't pulled many muscles screening it the way studios do when they know they have a winner.
"Money" pulls out its most histrionic stops for a somewhat over-the-top finale, which deters from what fun there's been. So with Pacino not really doing much beyond what he's done before, it's time to take our cue from Ed Murrow (and more currently, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann).
Source: WBIR
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