Brandon (Matthew McConaughey) ends his college career as a winning quarterback with a bum knee, canceling out his hopes to make the big time in the NFL. He loves the game and takes a job for chump change dispensing betting tips from a 900 number in a cubicle. His skill at predicting winners in football catches the eye of Walter (Al Pacino), a clever and compulsive entrepreneur who has found a legal way of passing on advice to betters and then taking a percentage of their winnings in exchange for more predictions on football games. The reason he is so good at what he does is because he is a reformed gambling addict who knows that one of the best highs comes with the fear of losing it all.
Walter believes that Brandon is his ticket to the big time, so he sets him up in a fancy apartment and office. When his protégé starts an amazing streak of predictions that come true, he ups the ante and makes him the lead man on his cable TV show. Brandon, a man who believes in God and doesn't gamble or swear, starts to get caught up in the adrenaline rush of fame and good fortune. Walter's wife Toni (Rene Russo), a former junkie, knows the pitfalls of being around her fast-talking, manipulative and hard-driving husband. In addition, Brandon knows that at any moment his boss could die because of his bad heart and compulsive smoking.
Two For The Money is directed by D.J. Caruso. The screenplay by Dan Gilroy is inspired by a true story of an athlete who found a career in handicapping sports events for a 1-900 service in Las Vegas. This morality play hinges on the interplay between Brandon and his mentor Walter; Al Pacino and Matthew McConaughey catch all the spunk and sparks between these two as they roll toward grand success (especially when they sign up an obscenely wealthy gambler, played by Armand Assante) and then veer sharply into trouble. The film reveals the rot beneath the $200 billion dollar a year business in gambling on sports events. Why do they do it? As Walter puts it, they are looking for "certainty in an uncertain world." Two For the Money sputters near the end, but still provides a scary glimpse of the gambling addiction that ruins so many lives every weekend.
Special features on the DVD include: The Making of Two for the Money; Insider Interview: The Real Brandon; deleted scenes (with optional commentaries); theatrical trailer and TV Spots; universal trailers
