 Al Pacino is being singled out for much praise -- and much scorn -- in D.J. Caruso's Two for the Money. His is a performance "vibrating with tension and need," writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Robert K. Elder in the Chicago Tribune describes him as "the Michelangelo of alpha males, the superior craftsman of high-strung, barking-mad rulers of men." Kyle Smith in the New York Post comments that "Pacino is always worth watching. ... He brings so much flash he almost makes us forget that the story, and even the setting, don't make sense." But Chris Kaltenbach writes in the Baltimore Sun, "If watching Al Pacino overact does it for you, then by all means go see Two for the Money." Similarly, Peter Howell in the Toronto Star observes, "Al Pacino begins dining on the shrubbery from the moment the camera turns to him." Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News says that Pacino "overacts with such self-aware vigor, vintage movie fans may wonder if he's possessed by the spirit of Bette Davis." And Steven Rea concludes in the Philadelphia Inquirer: "A little Al Pacino goes a long way, and his rants and revelations assume a sort of bludgeoning familiarity as the film progresses, heading for a muddled, emotionally messy conclusion." |
