Genre: Drama/Romance/Sports/Biography
Starring: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo
Brandon Lang (McConaughey) is a professional football player who had to taken an early retirement due to a career-ending injury. He started advising people on the kind of bets they should put on football games due to his intense knowledge of the game, the players and their strategies. His high and consistent accuracy rate got the attention of Walter (Pacino) a New York based betting adviser, one of the largest in the country, who trains him and shows him how he could put his skills to better use. He creates a fake identity of John Anthony who is the slick, sharp and confident New Yorker as against the more bland and sober Brandon. Brandon slowly climbs the career graph where money, woman and all the sins of the world are easily thrown at his feet. The movie kicks off on a decently high note, but as it progresses further, it soon becomes evident that it is another rags to riches story where money does more harm than good and the inevitable downfall. The movie is based on the true life story of a certain Brandon Lang who had experienced a similar life as depicted by John Anthony. The movie tries to bank upon Al Pacino who delivers the usual filthy-rich businessman who has no worry in the world and is shown to be super-smart and cunning. A pretty average movie that could have been far better.
Thumbs up: A good start, good adaptation of a real life story
Thumbs down: Predictable outcome, poor performances
Rating: 6.5/10
0 comments:
Post a Comment