Two for the Money is a 2005 American sports-drama film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo, Armand Assante, and Carly Pope. The film is about the world of sports gambling. It was released on October 7, 2005. This was the first Morgan Creek movie distributed by Universal Pictures since Coupe de Ville in 1990.

Plot

Brandon Lang is a former college football star who, after sustaining a career-ending injury, takes a job handicapping football games. His success at choosing winners catches the eye of Walter Abrams, the slick head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the United States. Walter takes Brandon under his wing, and soon they are making tremendous amounts of money.

Lang s in-depth knowledge of the game, leagues, and players brings in big winnings and bigger clients. Abrams s cable television show, The Sports Advisors, skyrockets in popularity when he adds Lang s slick John Anthony persona to the desk, infuriating Jerry Sykes, who up to now has been Walter s in-house expert. Lang s total image is remade with a new car, new wardrobe, and a new look, with the assistance of Walter s wife, Toni, a hair stylist.

Things suddenly go south, however, when Lang begins playing his hunches instead of doing his homework. He loses his touch and is even physically assaulted by the thugs of a gambler who lost a great deal of money following Lang s advice. Abrams and Lang s once-solid relationship sours.

Lang s new high-rolling lifestyle depends entirely on his ability to predict the outcomes of the games. Millions are at stake by the time he places his last bet, and Abrams, a recovering gambling addict and alcoholic, grows increasingly unstable. He secretly begins gambling all of his own money on Lang s picks and becomes suspicious that Lang is having an affair with his wife.

The film concludes with Lang s predictions coming true for the last game, both of which he allegedly determines by flipping coins in a bathroom, as he leaves New York and takes a job as coach of a junior league football team.

Cast

• Al Pacino as Walter Abrams
• Matthew McConaughey as Brandon Lang
• Rene Russo as Toni Abrams
• Armand Assante as C.M. Novian
• Carly Pope as Tammy
• Jeremy Piven as Jerry Sykes
• Jaime King as Alexandria
• Ralph Garman as Reggie
• Charles Carroll as Chuck Adler
• Ildiko Ferenczi as Friend
• Veena Sood as G.A. Hostess

Reception

Two for the Money received generally negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 22% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 110 reviews with an average score of 4.7/10. Its consensus states that Despite its sportsmanlike swagger, Two for the Money s aimless plot isn t worth betting on. The film s box office receipts came to only $22,991,379 in the United States and $30,526,509 worldwide, against a production budget of $35 million. The film also got mixed to average reviews on review aggregator Metacritic, where it scored 50 out of a 100, based on 29 critical reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 out of 4, while Nick Schager of Slant Magazine gave it 2 out of 4, and saying in his opening comments: Substitute The Devil’s Advocate’s satanic legal scheming with unethical sports gambling practices and you’ve got Two for the Money. Two for the Money also received 48% from Cinafilm, who was basing it on 507 reviews, as well as a C from Reeling Reviews.

Home media

Two for the Money was released on DVD and VHS on January 17, 2006. It was the last film released by Morgan Creek Productions to receive a VHS release.

Year	2005
ReleaseDate	2005-10-07
RuntimeMins	122
RuntimeStr	2h 2min
Plot	After suffering a career-ending knee injury, a former college football star aligns himself with one of the most renowned touts in the sports-gambling business.
Awards	Awards, 2 nominations
Directors	D.J. Caruso
Writers	Dan Gilroy
Stars	Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino, Rene Russo
Produced by	Jay Cohen,James M. Freitag,Dan Gilroy,Billy Higgins,Guy McElwaine,Wayne Morris,David Robinson,James G. Robinson,Rene Russo
Music by	Christophe Beck
Cinematography by	Conrad W. Hall
Film Editing by	Glen Scantlebury
Casting By	Pam Dixon,Cathy Sandrich Gelfond,Amanda Mackey
Production Design by	Tom Southwell
Art Direction by	William Heslup,Nicholas Lundy
Set Decoration by	Mary-Lou Storey
Costume Design by	Marie-Sylvie Deveau
Makeup Department	Emanuela Daus,Joel Echallier,Norma Hill-Patton,Lisa Leonard,Thom MacIntyre,Laini Reeves,Sanna Seppanen,Margaret Yaworski,Agnieszka Echallier,Adina Shore,Diana Sikes
Production Management	Andy Fraser,Dan Genetti,George A. Grieve,Billy Higgins,Wayne Morris,Ethan Smith,Aaron Rattner
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Misha Bukowski,Steve Eathorne,James M. Freitag,Allan Graf,David Klohn,John MacCarthy,Megan M. Shank,Peter Soldo,Carole Fleming,Jason Ivey,Maja Jacob
Art Department	Chris Andreas,Brent Berg,Ea Birkett,Derek Bobroff,Susan Bode,Peter Bundrick,Philip Canfield,Gerri Crawford,Sandi Dannetta,Kasia Dzieciolowska,Andrew Emde,Odelle Evans,Ivan Fish,Michelle Gasque,Jim Green,Tanya Groenewold,Harry Hachey,Frank Hanuska,Richard Hebrank,Frank Hollinson,Anthony Holtslag,Sally Hudson,Dale Husuliak,Kyle Irwin,Nicholas Lundy,Dawna Major,Derick McLeod,Pam McLeod,Jay Mitchell,Sacha Moiseiwitsch,Ian P. OBriain,Kenneth Panzer,Bryan Pederson,Marlow Pederson,Thelma Quinn,Chris Rae,James Reddy,Steven Reintjes,Philip Saccio,Greg Sofonoff,Danny Stetski,Gordon Stewart,Robin Stooshnov,Glen Taylor,Andy Thornton,Michael Toby,Paul Wagner,Chris Waldron,Ken Wells,Shirley Wells,Darcy Yurchuk,Milena Zdravkovic,Salmon Harris,Tom Jung,Sean Will,Kay Yamanaka
Sound Department	Ron Bedrosian,Michael Broomberg,Weldon Brown,Julio Carmona,Ray Collins,Patrick Cyccone Jr.,Robert Deschaine,Dino Dimuro,Victor Ray Ennis,Paul Flinchbaugh,Nerses Gezalyan,Barbara Harris,David Husby,Daniel S. Irwin,Bret Johns,Kenneth L. Johnson,Michael Keller,Randy Kelley,Larry Kemp,Daryl Lathrop,Diane Marshall,Brian Miksis,James Moriana,Ryan Murphy,Charles O Shea,Mark Ormandy,Michael Primmer,Alan Rankin,Bill Ritter,Sebastian Salm,Karen Schell,Christopher Sidor,Matthew Sordello,Mark P. Stoeckinger,Lucy Sustar,Tami Treadwell,Lisa Varetakis,Tim Walston,Trevor Ward,Jeffrey Wilhoit,Elliot Anders,Michael Colomby,Nerses Gezalyan,Chris Navarro,Eric Thompson,Lisa Varetakis
Special Effects by	Dan Cervin,Steven Kirshoff,Don Leask,Joel Whist
Visual Effects by	David Beedon,Beverly Bernacki,Christopher Lance,Tom Mahoney,David Stump,Corey Bramall
Stunts	G.A. Aguilar,Bill Anagnos,George B. Colucci Jr.,Blaise Corrigan,Allan Graf,Mark Norby,Janet Paparazzo,Stephen A. Pope,Danny Virtue,Derek Graf,Kevin Reid,Trevor Richardson
Camera and Electrical Department	Shannon Abbott,Gustavo Acosta,Mark Aviss,Jeff Boudier,Rob Brady,Rob Chamryk,Chris Cochrane,Dean Collins,David Crone,Doug Dalisera,Drew Davidson,Bill Dawson,Ken Decker,Shane Dobie,David M. Dunlap,Glen Engels,Russell Engels,Tom Evans,Dan Gorval,David Goyer,Scott Gray,Richard Guinness Jr.,Charlie Guttman,Wilf Guttmann,Sean M. Harding,Patrick Hogue,David Joshi,William McConnell,T. Michael McLean,Saubrie Mohamed,Ryan Monro,Heather Norton,Kim Olsen,Sean Oxenbury,Dino Parks,Brian Pearson,Christian Rayner,Ian Roscorla,Kyle Rudolph,Kaline Schounce,Eike Schroter,Charlie Schultz,Bob Scott,Steve Sherlock,Troy James Sobotka,Timothy Robin Spencer,Eric Swanek,Jeff Upton,Roger Wells,Tyler Woeste,Keith Woods,Thomas Yardley,Enrique Del Rio,Daniel Feighery,Amy Albano Jachyra,Simon Jori,David Kohler,Koji Kojima,Rod Newby,Chooch Paglaro,Eric Gustavo Petersen,Macall B. Polay,James Scutakes,Simon Smith
Casting Department	Stuart Aikins,Kevin Arens,Elisa Bayley,Sean Cossey,Sig De Miguel,Anya Gadison,L.A. Hilts,Tate Palmer
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Isabel Bloor,Lanny Campbell,Eduardo Castro,Lisa R. Frucht,Patricia Galbraith,Linda Leduc,Thomas L. Pankiewich,Melissa Stanton,Charis Tillson,Debi Weldon,Delia Hauser,Anthea Mallinson,Helen Monaghan,Heather Seshadri,Michelle Elaine Teague
Editorial Department	Richard Cordes,Terry Haggar,Dana Mackey,Blake Maniquis,Michele Nieves,Mark Rathaus,Mary Beth Smith
Location Management	Chad Belair,Mike Broughton,Sean Cummings,Chris Day,Len Murach,Karen Sanderson,David Tamkin,Michael C. Young,Damon Michael Gordon,Sean Grant,Shane Lennox,Lenore Nemani,Dixie Plaxton,Wade Whitman
Music Department	Adam Blau,Fernand Bos,Sean Dougall,Chris Fogel,Peter Fuchs,John Houlihan,Dave Jordan,Season Kent,Andre LaFosse,Jill Meyers,Martin Roller,Casey Stone,Allan Wilson,Brian Yaskulka,Stephen Lotwis
Script and Continuity Department	Ashley Kravitz,Janet D. Munro,Pattie Robertson,Peter Madamba
Transportation Department	Debbie Albright,Lawrence Albright,Kelly Charlton,Greg Farmer,Brian Holden,Barry Bear Horton,Lori James,Ron James,Rick A. Johnson,Carlos Nickel,Les Peters,Charles Pinkus,Don Steele,Charlie Teeple,Gabe Turiello,Louis Volpe,Ralph Volpe
Additional Crew	Jackie Andrade,Rey Astronomo,Ildiko Barritt,Tony Batista,Jackie Bissley,Susan Bradley,Rich Brown,Paul Cadiou,Charlene Callihoo,Nancy Carrow,Amy Carter,John C. Chaney,Lou Crisa,Jason Crosby,Robin Edgar,Barb Foster,Ken Friss,Deirdre Horgan,Maja Jacob,Tim Judge,Gwen MacQueen,Steve McAuliff,Meegan Neeb,Maire Ni Rochain,Bettina Tendler O Mara,Joe Picher,Reginald Dale Porter,Selena Scheirer,Heide Schwartz,Carrie Van Hoy,Janet M. West,Roger Williams,Rhona Williscroft,Anton Agerbo,Evan Allen,Brian Bergdoll,Hamish Berry,Howard Blank,Jenn Bubka,Max A. Butler,Ian Doig,Carole Fleming,Celine Gil,Allan Graf,Victoria James,Tom J. Lawson,Kimberly Lord,Grace MacLeod,Cameron Morris,Sean Murray,Geoff Nathanson,Bonny Northcott,Chooch Paglaro,Kirk Renard,Ryf Van Rij,Kyle Villegas,Liz Williams,Mike Witherington,Ian Zweig
Genres	Crime, Drama, Sport
Companies	Morgan Creek Productions, Morgan Creek Entertainment, Cosmic Entertainment
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	6.2
ImDbRatingVotes	46303
MetacriticRating	50
Keywords	father son relationship,female frontal nudity,football,injury,addiction