Two for the Money 2005

Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) is a former college football star who, after sustaining a career-ending knee injury, takes a job handicapping football games.

Brandon used to play baseball with his father as a kid and was very passionate about sports. Brandon wanted to win trophies for his dad, but he left before Brandon’s 10th birthday. Brandon’s sports career was over during college due to the injury.

The company he worked for was a Tele-marketing unit, and Brandon was initially hired to sell merchandise over the phone. One day, due to a person being on sick leave in the betting section, Brandon is moved there to cover the missing person’s shift. The new job was to suggest winners to people who were betting through them. Brandon did not agree with the recommendations and changed them, before pitching them to clients.

Brandon’s picks turn up to be winners and make his friends and clients a lot of money. Brandon still continues to tryout for the NFL teams but gets rejection letters due to the strength of his knee in question.

His success at choosing winners catches the eye of Walter Abrams (Al Pacino), the slick head of one of the biggest sports consulting operations in the United States. Walter calls Brandon and flies him first class to New York to discuss a job offer.

Walter tells Brandon that sports betting is a $200 billion per year business. Walter says that the whales lose money on the weekend and end up betting big on the Monday night games, to climb out of the hole that they dug for themselves over the weekend. While sports betting is illegal, advising for betting is not. And if the client wins by taking Walter’s advise, he takes a percentage. If the clients lose, the company gets nothing. Walter runs a cable show as well.

Walter sends Brandon for a haircut to a stylist named Toni. Brandon realizes that Toni is Walter’s wife, and that Walter sends all employees to her to check if they are lying or not. Brandon tells Toni that he used to bet himself but lost everything he had and then stopped.

Walter gives Bradon a new name of John Anthony and says that the new name matches Brandon’s new profession. Walter works with Brandon on his pitch and pays him $25 per call that he brings in, much more than double of what he was earning back home (where he was paid $12 per hour). Customers would call into the 900 number and that’s how Walter would make money.

Brandon believes that his pitch is an 80% success rate in picking winners, but Walter says that Brandon is selling certainty in an uncertain world. Walter has a weak heart and has to take medication to keep himself going.

Walter gives Brandon a furnished apartment to live in. Brandon continues his streak of picking winners. His 900 number recordings attract 175 calls per recording. To celebrate their success, Walter takes Toni and Brandon out for dinner. Toni is embarrassed by Walter’s antics as he has no filters. Brandon picks up Alexandria (Jaime King) at the restaurant to win a bet against Walter.

Walter now takes Brandon to another part of his business, direct sales to clients, where they pitch bets and take a percentage off (10%) the winning. Tammy (Carly Pope) is the receptionist. Salespeople include Reggie (Ralph Garman), Chuck Adler (Charles Carroll) and Jerry. Walter says that he has 3 guys who can pick games, 20 who can sell, but Brandon is the only one who can do both.

Walter takes Brandon under his wing, and soon they are making tremendous amounts of money. Brandon is a natural at talking to clients and converting them from penny bets to big bets.

Lang’s total image is remade - new car, new wardrobe and a new look with the assistance of Walter’s wife, Toni (Rene Russo), a hair stylist.

Lang’s in-depth knowledge of the game, leagues and players brings in big winnings and bigger clients. Abrams’ cable television show, The Sports Advisors, skyrockets in popularity when he adds Lang’s slick “John Anthony” persona to the desk, infuriating Jerry Sykes (Jeremy Piven), who up to now has been Walter’s in-house expert.

Brandon gets angry when he finds from his brother that his father has been trying to get in touch with him, but Walter has been screening his calls. Walter tries to explain to Brandon that both he and Toni also had bad childhood with abusive fathers, but he needs to learn to move on.

Walter takes Brandon to Puerto Rico to meet C.M. Novian, the biggest sports bettor in the world. Novian believes that Brandon is dealing with insider information, but he convinces Novian that he knows that teams and the leagues inside out and that’s the secret to his success. Brandon charges Novian $250,000 upfront and 10% of all winnings.

Brandon demands a 10% cut of all earnings, but Walter brushes him off. Brandon goes to meet Alexandria, and she reveals that Walter paid her $5000 to sleep with Brandon.

Things suddenly go south, however, when Lang begins playing his hunches instead of doing his homework. Walter notices this and agrees to increase Brandon’s commission to 10%.

He loses his touch and is even physically assaulted by the thugs of a gambler C.M. Novian (Armand Assante) who lost a great deal of money following Lang’s advice. The once-solid relationship between Lang and Abrams sours.

Lang’s new high-rolling lifestyle depended entirely on his ability to predict the outcomes of the games. Millions are at stake by the time he places his last bet as Abrams grows more and more unstable, even suspicious that Brandon is having an affair with his wife.

Lang’s predictions come true for the last game, which he made at the last minute by nervously flipping a coin in the bathroom of the studio where he and Abrams tape their weekly TV show. While Abrams and the rest of the staff nervously watch the game, Lang leaves New York City, watching the game’s outcome on an airport television. Soon, he begins coaching a junior league football team.