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TWO FOR THE MONEY: TWO FOR THE MONEY, featuring Al Pacino, Rene Russo, and Matthew McConaughey, provides a most unexpected twist in its thrilling tale of high-rolling bookie cons and sports gamblers. Brandon Lang (McConaughey) stars as a college football great permanently downed by an irreparable injury. He discovers a second talent, however, for predicting a game's winner and loser--a talent that makes him very attractive to Walter Abrams (Pacino), one of the country's leading sports betting consultants. Abrams takes on Lang as his protégé, moving him to Manhattan and allowing him to grow used to a lavish lifestyle. But the seemingly perfect father/son relationship gradually unravels as Lang loses his touch and Abrams seeks too much control. The ensuing action, enrapturing even Abrams's wife, Toni (Russo), resolves in a stunning revelation of con after con, leaving viewers to wonder whom to trust.
Directed by D.J. Caruso (TAKING LIVES, THE SALTON SEA), TWO FOR THE MONEY is not the first time Al Pacino has played mentor to a protégé. In similar films such as ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and SCENT OF A WOMAN, Pacino brings to bear the commandeering and charismatic personality that made him so great in THE GODFATHER and SCARFACE. The understated performances by the rest of the cast allow Pacino to shine, and to make believable Abrams's manipulation and Lang's naiveté. Combining the intriguing and often illegal world of sports gambling with the solid story of con against con, TWO FOR THE MONEY makes for a satisfying thriller.
ICE HARVEST: Based on the novel by Scott Phillips, THE ICE HARVEST is a comic film noir set in very cold and icy Wichita, Kansas. John Cusack turns in another fine performance as Charlie Arglist, a soft-spoken lawyer who works for local mob boss Bill Guerrard (Randy Quaid). Charlie hangs out in strip clubs, pines after femme fatale Renata (Connie Nielsen), rarely sees his kids, and basically watches life happen all around him. Ready for a change, he and the much more hardened Vic Cavanaugh (Billy Bob Thornton) steal $2.1 million from Guerrard and plan to play it cool before leaving town, trying not to create suspicion. All they need to do is make it through Christmas Eve--but that's not going to be easy for Charlie, who spends the long night getting caught up in a series of very funny, very dangerous, and very bloody events that unfold while sweet Christmas carols echo in the background. Reminiscent of such stylish modern noirs as RED ROCK WEST and FARGO, THE ICE HARVEST features a clever script by Oscar-winner Robert Benton and Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Russo, and was directed by Harold Ramis, the former SCTV star and Ghostbuster who has helmed such successful films as CADDYSHACK, GROUNDHOG DAY, and ANALYZE THIS. The acting is uniformly excellent--including Mike Starr as hit man Roy Gelles, who never shows his face--but Oliver Platt runs away with the film as Pete Van Heuten, an old friend of Charlie's who stole his family and now is an obnoxious, hysterical, pathetic drunken fool with a good heart.
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