Customer Reviews

Matchstick Men (Widescreen)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Matchstick Men, a movie by Ridley Scott, is a good example of how the casting of good 'physical' actors combined with a director's masterly affection for his work can make good of what is an un-inspiring screen play. The film is worth seeing as a patent example of Mr Scott's masterly craftmanship, but will not last the test of time as a model of dramatic innovation. The moral and emotional ressurection of the lead character would have been more enjoyable to witness had some insight into the circumstances of his earlier decline been offered. The dynamics of his friendship with his cohort, played beautifully by Mr Rockwell, was regrettably left unexplored.

A film by Ridley Scott

With the track record of Ridley Scott in mind (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down), any time the man makes a new movie I am automatically interested in it. He has a history of creativity and excellence in filmmaking and any new movie that he directs is worth giving a chance. It was with high expectations that I went into "Matchstick Men", a story of a con-artist.

Roy (Nicolas Cage) and Frank (Sam Rockwell) are partners in the art of conning people out of their money. As Roy explains in the film, he doesn't steal people's money, they give it to him. They are mainly working small phone scams for smaller payouts (though Roy seems to be well off considering the size of his house), but Frank is looking to get a big score, which Roy agrees to work. Simple enough, but Roy also has some serious issues. He is compulsive (he must turn the locks or open and close doors three times before actually opening the door all the way), somewhat manic, and he has trouble dealing with the outdoors. Neatness/cleanliness is another issue. Roy is a man with tics.

Into this imperfect, but somewhat structured life comes a big change: Roy's daughter Angela (Alison Lohman). When Roy accidentally knocks his supply of medication down the drain, Roy has to start searching for a psychologist who will prescribe some more on short notice. The doctor he does find also suggests that Roy gets in contact with his daughter, whom he has never met. Angela is a breath of fresh air into Roy's otherwise empty life, but it is also causing some conflict into the big con that Roy and Frank are working on.

My expectations may have been too high, because I wasn't overly impressed with "Matchstick Men". For the first half to two thirds of the movie, I just could not engage with the characters. Part of the problem probably lies in the fact that I do not care for Nicolas Cage as an actor. It just seems like he is trying too hard to create a character through personality tics (with the notable exceptions of Leaving Las Vegas, and The Family Man). His characters are just not likeable, or interesting enough for me to engage with, but I understand that this is just a personal perception.

The shining star of the movie is Alison Lohman (also in White Oleander) who was nearly 10 years older than the age she was playing in the movie. She can act and look so young and vulnerable despite being in her mid 20's. The rest of the acting was well done (though I still don't care for Cage), but it didn't all come together like I would have expected. The idea of the "con" runs throughout the entire movie and there are several twists along the way, but this is a fairly lightweight movie up until about three quarters of the way through the movie when it completely changes in tone (and oddly enough becomes a better movie). I hoped for so much more from "Matchstick Men", but I didn't think it lived up to the promise of what it could have been with the talent involved.

-Joe Sherry

Ridley Scott has directed several block buster films such as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), and Black Hawk Down (2002). Scott displays his talent for creating real characters in his films, which he refined in Thelma and Louise (1991). In Matchstick Men Scott pushes himself even further into the human psyche as the main character, Roy Waller (Nicholas Cage), is dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

The con-artist Roy Waller suffers from OCD as he goes about his daily business swindling innocent people with his partner Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell). Accidentally Roy drops his medication in the sink and goes into a cleaning frenzy as his OCD begins to run amok. Frank begins to worry about Roy and connects him with a psychiatrist. Through therapy Roy improves and soon he finds out that he has a daughter from a previous marriage. Roy is forced to deal with his OCD as he is about to confront his 14-year-old daughter he has never seen, and simultaneously pulls off the biggest con of his life before early retirement.

The story of Matchstick Men has been told before, but here is retold with a new twist. The new twist circulates around the psychological disorder that Nicholas Cage presents through wonderful acting. In addition, the cinematography projects a visual abstraction of the psychological disorder of Nicholas Cage's character, which enhances the visual experience. Scott also displays clues and hints of what is to come through detailed mise-en-scene. In the end, Matchstick Men offers a good, but not unique cinematic experience.

Nicolas Cage plays an obsessive-compulsive con-man in this extremely tedious film. His life is turned upside down when he learns he has a daughter. That makes him reassess his life and values.

That's all you need to know because this movie is as slow as it is uninteresting. The daughter brings almost no energy to this plot and about 90 minutes passes before anything even remotely interesting happens. I'm getting bored just trying to write about this dog of a film.

Ridley Scott is one of the top directors in the world. That's undeniable , but what happened with this one?
The plot is boring , even ridiculous . Nicolas Cage is perfect in his role but the script goes to nowhere . This film seems inspirated for House of games and a moral lesson for fathers. And the film remains in the middle of the road.
I couldn't believe this film carried the signature of Ridley Scott.
A minor movie for a status director . As you see the marriage can not result in a happy ending.

For Nicolas Cage fans, MATCHSTICK MEN is a treat diluted only by the knowledge that Cage wasn't even nominated for an Oscar-worthy performance.

Cage is Roy, teamed with partner Frank (Sam Rockwell); both are con artists, or "Matchstick Men". As the film opens, we watch as the two cash in on a scam that enables them to plunder the bank account of an elderly couple.

Roy is also an obsessive-compulsive with phobias for dirt and the outdoors. Without his medication, Roy gets twitchy. One day, he accidentally knocks his pill supply down the kitchen sink. Bad timing, since his psychiatrist drug supplier is out of town. On Frank's advice, Roy visits a new shrink, Dr. Klein (Bruce Altman), to whom he admits a previous marriage abandoned some fourteen years previous when his wife was pregnant. Through Klein's intercession, Roy is put in touch with his teenage daughter, Angela (Alison Lohman), who's always been curious about Old Dad. Indeed, against her Mom's wishes, she appears on Roy's doorstep to spend a long weekend. Roy is alternatively smitten with paternal affection and acute anxiety over the dirt Angela tracks onto his carpet. Klein believes the girl's presence is good therapy.

MATCHSTICK MEN is about scammers and cons, so, by the time the credits roll, you shouldn't be too surprised at the general storyline, which is one oft seen before. What elevates the film is the intensity of Cage's extraordinary performance as the mentally tortured lead. We've watched Nicolas do this previously in LEAVING LAS VEGAS and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD. Cage is apparently not one for whom a role is simply a facade easily sluiced away at the end of the day's shoot. Cage always makes me believe the screen character is himself through to the core, something which either makes the actor one of the most talented in the Biz or a schizo seriously in need of professional help.

The other remarkable performance in this film is that of Lohman. Playing the 14-year old Angela, one is apt to forget, or not believe, that the actress is actually in her mid-twenties. She had me fooled.

MATCHSTICK MEN is perhaps one you'll want to see a second time to locate the key sequence where you yourself were fooled. This is first-rate entertainment.

I've been a fan of Cage for quite a while. His quirkiness and his portrayal of offbeat characters are intriguing. He takes offbeat to a mesmerizing level in Matchstick Men. He plays an obsessive compulsive conman so well, you're not sure whether to slap him or cradle him and say "everything's gonna be all right." Regardless, he keeps you glued to the set, waiting to see if he'll snap out of his chain-smoking, eye-twitching, panic-attacking ways or hopelessly land himself in a padded white room.

The mood of the movie restlessly parallels Cage's character. It's edgy and stays on a bite-your-nails course until the end. A twist at the end left me shaking my head as if I hadn't seen it coming. The unfolding plot, however, foreshadows some unknown turn, but I wasn't expecting that twist.

This is an entertaining movie and well done.

Nicolas Cage as Roy Waller gives the most entertaining performance of a person suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder since Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets". Cage is nearly paralyzed by his condition, in particular when he is out of his medication. The early scenes establish his condition and his occupation as a con artist, and there is a steller sequence which begins when he clumsily dumps his medications into kitchen sink and commences a series of panicked phone calls to get refills after hours. There are several hilarious scenes between Cage and Bruce Altman as Roy's Psychiatrist.

Sam Rockwell as Roy's con-man partner Frank Mercer gives another performance that signals his emergence as an American A-list actor. Alison Lohman is very appealing as the daughter Roy never met.

The first act of the film introduces these three characters and the second develops Roy's relationship with his daughter.

The third act builds around an elaborate con that the three of them have cooked up, and by the end of the film you see that the con worked exactly as one of them planned. I don't plan to give any twists away but I will say expect some - twists that is.

Ridley Scott directs and adds another jewel to a resume that already sparkles with "Alien", "Thelma and Louise", "Blackhawk Down", "Blade Runner" and "Gladiator".

I love con movies and heist movies. So, I definitely wanted to see "Matchstick Men." I was pleasantly surprised by the rich characterization of Nicholas Cage's character, and the strong performances of all of the major performers. There were some very subtle and very funny comedic bits in this film that would have fallen flat otherwise.

However, a con movie has to be smarter than you with regard to the con, and it can't give you too much time to figure it out. Otherwise you're going to figure out the ending halfway into the movie. Unfortunately, that's what happened to me with this film. At two hours, it's about 20-30 minutes too long. This extra length causes the film to drag in parts, which makes you start to think about the con in order to escape the boring bits, and then you have the "aha!" moment when you realize what's going to happen. This problem is only amplified in home viewing, when everyone will feel free to start discussing the film during those slow parts.

The extras include extensive "making-of" features, and a commentary track.

You'll probably like it if you like this kind of film; I did myself. But you're probably not going to love it.

The advert says "Imaginative. A wonderful, wonderful movie."

I'll admit to it being clever, & not leaving me with that semi desperate there's-2-hours-of-my-life-I-can-never-get-back feeling.

About the best thing that can be said about this flick is that Cage was his usual outstanding self, & he must have had a ball playing the character.