Pacino and protege, picking the winners for profit

Do man-boy movie execs wish Al Pacino were their dad?Teamed with baby-faced Chris O'Donnell in the schmaltzfest Scent of a Woman, teamed with dude-ish Keanu Reeves in the satanic hoot The Devil's Advocate, teamed with Johnny Depp in the excellent Donnie Brasco, teamed with Colin Farrell in the forgettable The Recruit - Al Pacino has, in the last decade, played the gruff, guttural, middle-aged mentor to a slew of young star mentees.

So, nothing new in Two for the Money, in which Matthew McConaughey is Brandon Lang, a red-hot sports handicapper who goes to work for Walter Abrams (Pacino), the biggest sports handicapper of them all. Walter operates out of clubby digs on the Brooklyn waterfront, overseeing the Manhattan skyline and a brokerage-firmlike biz of prognosticators, taking a percentage of the winnings from the bettors on the other end of the phones.

It's a booming enterprise, but dependent on touters who can call the winners, and the point spreads, on any given Sunday (football's their biggest game). Brandon, whose promising career as an NFL quarterback met a nasty end with a leg injury, has a record that verges on the psychic. Walter hears about Brandon, flies him to New York (first class, of course), and offers him a job.

Only it's not just a job: It's more like becoming Walter's number-one son, moving into his house, eating dinner with the wife (Rene Russo), hanging onto Walter's every profound piece of counsel.

Directed by D.J. Caruso (The Salton Sea, Taking Lives), Two for the Money is full of showboating Pacino moments - blustery soliloquies that are entertainingly self-parodic, full of hand-waving, eye-popping, motor-mouthing hooey. In the dressing room where he's getting ready for his weekly cable show, Pacino's Walter examines his coif in the mirror and barks, "What's going on with my hair?!" About his barber: "I want him dead!"

McConaughey, playing a small-town boy with big-city dreams, eats this stuff up. Pumping iron and pushing fast on his bike, Brandon works himself into an adrenalized state, an über-buff protege exuding total confidence, the handpicked heir to Walter's kingdom. This doesn't sit well with Walter's heretofore top salesman, a cocky sports statistician played by Entourage's Jeremy Piven. What's a movie without conflict, after all?

In the case of Two for the Money, the conflict gets complicated when Brandon's streak suddenly turns cold, and the fortunes of Walter's firm go with it. A thuggish billionaire (Armand Assante) isn't happy with his losses and makes his displeasure known.

A little Al Pacino goes a long way, and his rants and revelations assume a sort of bludgeoning familiarity as the film progresses, heading for a muddled, emotionally messy conclusion. It says in the beginning of the film that Two for the Money is "inspired by a true story." Problem is, it's just not that inspired.

Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.

Read his recent work at http://go.philly.com/stevenrea.

Two for the Money ** 1/2 (out of four stars)

Produced by Jay Cohen, David C. Robinson and James G. Robinson, directed by D.J. Caruso, written by Dan Gilroy, photography by Conrad W. Hall, music by Christophe Beck, distributed by Universal Pictures.

Running time: 2 hours, 2 mins.

Walter Abrams. . . Al Pacino

Brandon Lang. . . Matthew McConaughey

Toni. . . Rene Russo

Jerry. . . Jeremy Piven

Parent's guide: R (profanity, violence, sex, adult themes)

Playing at: area theaters