Two For The Money will appeal to people who fall into one or more of the following categories:

(1) Nerds who wish they could think of snappy one-liners that sound cool even though they aren't.
(2) Those who believe Al Pacino gets better as he gets louder.
(3) Anyone who hasn't seen Wall Street.

For everyone else, it is the endearingly testosterone-addled story of Brandon Lang (McConaughey, a vanilla slice in the Hollywood sweetshop), a former Las Vegas college quarterback reduced to working as a faceless phone operator.

But his talent for predicting ballgame results is sniffed out by hotshot betting advisor Walter Abrams (Pacino) whose operation works by taking a cut of the punters’ winnings.

On arriving in New York, Brandon is reinvented as 'John Anthony', the man who could pick a winner in a no-horse race. Yet unlike the verbal Viagra dispensed by Walter’s other sharks, 'John' romances the punters like a pools coupon from Hallmark.

Despite Walter being the type of guy who rustles up business at Gamblers' Anonymous meetings, Brandon enjoys his reign as the firm's chief willy-waggler and soon forms a close bond with Walter's wife Toni (Russo, in a thankless role).

But when his Midas touch becomes tarnished, it seems that fate has swept his legs from under him once more. What will Walter do now that his golden goose has stopped laying?

The surrogate father-son hokum covers up a lot of unclaimed betting slips here: Walter's heart condition is just a McGuffin and the initial voiceover and an interesting sub-feud with a jealous colleague are quickly ditched.

With Pacino acting somewhere between Gordon Gecko and Jonathan Ross and the smoky, sunset-hues accompanied by a decent soundtrack, this is drama for the MTV mob.

If you enjoy watching other people watching sports, your best bet might be to spend a couple of hours at your local Ladbrokes.

Elliott Noble