Two For the Money: Critic Reviews

Short on the number-crunching nitty-gritty.

A sincere and sincerely turgid male weepie about sports betting, Two for the Money lurches from upbeat to downbeat without ever settling into a coherent groove.

The movie has a lot of built-in flash and is thus mildly entertaining, though the running time grinds it down.

Hedges on its lurid promise.

Aside from Pacino's snappy contribution, the acting isn't very impressive -- even Armand Assante and Jeremy Piven are misused.

Turns from ludicrous to incoherent.

If you're looking for a movie for a boys' night out, it's a winner.

Its rhythms belong to a sports film: game, game, hurdles, big game, biggest. And that, at least, you can bet on.

Even in the film's early, relatively enjoyable moments, you'll hear a small voice reminding you that there's a difference between a genuinely good movie and a merely watchable one. That pesky voice grows louder and louder with each scene.

The film rides on the believable chemistry of its trio. If it doesn't go all the way, it certainly sprints toward a climax that feels like a gripping 2-minute drill.

You can see Al Pacino doing something he's done a lot lately: Having a terrific time being an actor.

Pacino's bark is ultimately better than Two For the Money's bite.

Two for the Money is "inspired by a true story." Problem is, it's just not that inspired.

The stop-start rhythm is bad on the movie's gearbox and before long we realize that we're looking at a highly polished lemon.

You can see why Pacino takes such roles: They're so Al, so tragic, so lowdown, so easy for him. He invented guys like this. But he must have other inventions left in him.

The movie offers no handholds for the audience, leaving us behind in a flurry of important-sounding but meaningless exchanges between two-dimensional characters.

The movie makes a bet that the filmmakers can't cover.

Pacino is having a blast, and so might the viewer, at least until our scenery muncher finally gobbles all the foliage mid-way through the picture.

Falls somewhere on that aesthetic scale between mediocre and flat-out bad.

Original screenwriting gives way to cliches, and the resolution, while offering closure, seems false -- too much a case of the filmmakers wanting to have their cake and eat it, too.

Overheated but undercooked.

Two for the Money takes its cues from classic rise/demise stories of fresh-faced young men and their amoral mentors, but it stops short of making a point.