Match Point
MATCH POINT Review:
Saw this one on Friday and I must say that I really enjoyed it. Would I call it a candidate for movie of the year? No, I wouldn't put it in the top tier of 2005 movies like Munich or A History of Violence. But this was a smart, entertaining, tense, and yes I'll use the word -- taut -- take on the thriller that kept me pretty glued to the screen even though I was crazy tired while watching it. For one thing, the acting is all-around great. John Rhys-Myers is very good as the fiendish lead character, and Scarlett Johanson does Woody Allen meets Marylin Monroe, if you can picture that, extremely well. Yeah, I know, quite an image I just put forth there. Now even though this is a Woody Allen movie, it doesn't quite feel like what you might expect from him, as aside from hints of himself in of all people Scarlett J, there is no Woody Allen character in this movie, and the man himself is nowhere to be seen. There's hints of comedy, but they are small, and the movie is mostly played straight, in a very old-school, classical way that almost reminded me of some of the old film noirs like Double Indemnity and whatnot, because the whole focus of the movie becomes: Man falls for unattainable woman, and will go to any lengths to be with her .... so the question is -- will he or won't he get caught? In fact, that is really the theme of the film - will the plan work or won't it? Will he get away with it or not? In film noir, the answer is always no. Here, Woody Allen poses the question (kind of SPOILER warnings I guess) ... what if it's not set in stone that the plan is going to fail? What if it really does just come down to luck, a flip of the coin, and what if the leading man could really get away with it, how would THAT work? So yeah, Allen poses some interesting questions here. And in between the big scenes we get all the hallmarks of a Woody Allen film -- awkward conversations in restaurants, even more awkward double dates, serious parental issues, uncertainty about one's future, women who drive men crazy, and people who are fish out of water in a big city. So there's lots of interesting little moments, social observations, etc. that make the movie very enjoyable - as always in a Woody Allen movie, each character becomes a fascinating psychological profile, seemingly begging to be put in a psycho-analysts's chair and thoroughly analyzed. As a movie, as a whole, is it a masterpiece? No, wouldn't go that far. But some excellent performances and lots of cool little moments make this a very, very good movie.
My grade: B+
Saw this one on Friday and I must say that I really enjoyed it. Would I call it a candidate for movie of the year? No, I wouldn't put it in the top tier of 2005 movies like Munich or A History of Violence. But this was a smart, entertaining, tense, and yes I'll use the word -- taut -- take on the thriller that kept me pretty glued to the screen even though I was crazy tired while watching it. For one thing, the acting is all-around great. John Rhys-Myers is very good as the fiendish lead character, and Scarlett Johanson does Woody Allen meets Marylin Monroe, if you can picture that, extremely well. Yeah, I know, quite an image I just put forth there. Now even though this is a Woody Allen movie, it doesn't quite feel like what you might expect from him, as aside from hints of himself in of all people Scarlett J, there is no Woody Allen character in this movie, and the man himself is nowhere to be seen. There's hints of comedy, but they are small, and the movie is mostly played straight, in a very old-school, classical way that almost reminded me of some of the old film noirs like Double Indemnity and whatnot, because the whole focus of the movie becomes: Man falls for unattainable woman, and will go to any lengths to be with her .... so the question is -- will he or won't he get caught? In fact, that is really the theme of the film - will the plan work or won't it? Will he get away with it or not? In film noir, the answer is always no. Here, Woody Allen poses the question (kind of SPOILER warnings I guess) ... what if it's not set in stone that the plan is going to fail? What if it really does just come down to luck, a flip of the coin, and what if the leading man could really get away with it, how would THAT work? So yeah, Allen poses some interesting questions here. And in between the big scenes we get all the hallmarks of a Woody Allen film -- awkward conversations in restaurants, even more awkward double dates, serious parental issues, uncertainty about one's future, women who drive men crazy, and people who are fish out of water in a big city. So there's lots of interesting little moments, social observations, etc. that make the movie very enjoyable - as always in a Woody Allen movie, each character becomes a fascinating psychological profile, seemingly begging to be put in a psycho-analysts's chair and thoroughly analyzed. As a movie, as a whole, is it a masterpiece? No, wouldn't go that far. But some excellent performances and lots of cool little moments make this a very, very good movie.
My grade: B+
posted by Danny B at 11:32 PM
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