Movie Review: Match Point

[andyfox]

Woody's Allen's latest. It's exactly the same movie as Crimes and Misdemeanors. Only in Britain. So the Allenese doesn't sound quite as dated since it's coming with a British accent.

Yes, one character reads Dostoievsky. Yes, he quotes Sophocles. No Groucho Marx though. Ho-hum. Same old stuff, but this time with a mindboggingly awful Scarlett Johannsen.

Allen's disgusting theme is that morals don't matter so long as you have good luck. Another way to justify his atrocious personal behavior. Once again. Ho-hum.

But it's actually Allen's best movie in a while. He needs a new cinematographer, everything is too dark. I think he hates color movies and wants to make us miss black and white.

People in the theater loved it, applause at the end.

At least I finally got Mrs. Fox to agree I don't have to go to any more Allen movies. At one time, I would wait on line to see the first showing at the premieres.

How sad. The Jerry Lewis of his generation.

[Jack of Arcades]

I can't wait to see this movie.

[pryor15]

i'm actually holding off on my best of 2005 thread hoping beyond hope i'll get to see this.

something tells me i'll give up in the next week or so, though.

[P.Dirty]

two words.

Scarlett. Johansson.

[Los Feliz Slim]

This description is 100% spot-on. Memo to Woody: if you're going to remake one of your own movies, do "Zelig" or something like that. By re-doing your (arguably) best work with inferior actors and less depth, you undermine your already shaky premise.

Brian Cox, as usual, was excellent in a small role.

With each passing moment, I like this movie less. What a huge disappointment.

[J.Brown]

I hate to use the word always, but.......

I have always agreed with/or liked your movie reviews Andy and I quite look forward to them.

This one disappoints me because I sooooooo wanted to like this movie and it had some hype going into it and Scarlett J. is dreamy, but.....

now I am sad because the movie and her are both bad, it is almost too much to deal with, lol.

thanks for the review, it isn't too bad for video is it?

because I can obvioulsy wait for it now.

thanks and Happy New Year. J.

[Macdaddy Warsaw]

I said it was bad like...two weeks ago. I'm glad a better known poster agrees with me and has allowed others to see the light.

[tdarko]

i saw this movie last night and first i will say what i thought then i will comment on your review.

i thought the movie actually was well done, i thought that it was interesting that woody went away from the essential woody character in the film. this made the movie even darker than it already is. so obviously this movie is less quirky than his others.

i liked that it was in london and not new york. the music and the scenary really made the movie kind of scary at times.

the problem was it was too difficult to watch, i gritted my teeth the whole time and my stomach hurt about an hour and a half through and when the credits came on the screen with that italian opera i exhaled and thought, "phhhhhhhhhh, its over."

then i started thinking that when i was watching Closer i never felt this way during the movie? then i realized what the movie was missing. it was missing woody. it was missing the light to counter the dark. i needed, for me personally, a break from the constant tension, i needed a damn break in the action.

i was dissappointed b/c i was really anticipating this movie. i will give woody credit that he made a good movie but not necessarily an enjoyable and rewatchable one.

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but this time with a mindboggingly awful Scarlett Johannsen.


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i thought scarlett was once again perfect in this movie. she was the one characters that gave me a break from the creepiness of the movie. when she is on the screen i sometimes forget to pay attention to the other actors and its not b/c of her looks, she is that good.

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Allen's disgusting theme is that morals don't matter so long as you have good luck. Another way to justify his atrocious personal behavior.

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i don't think he was justifying the atrocious behaviour b/c the entire movie portrays the lead character as an absolute disgusting person. what i got out of it was that sometimes in life, fair or unfair, luck is going to play the overwhelming percentage and there is nothing you can do about it. i think its too linear of thinking to say that the movie was justifying atrocious behavior and morals don't matter.

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He needs a new cinematographer, everything is too dark. I think he hates color movies and wants to make us miss black and white.


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i agree, but i like dark. i think he just needs something to balance it out so it doesn't feel like he is beating you over the head for 2 hours.

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People in the theater loved it, applause at the end.


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i always thought it was weird when people clapped in or at the end of movies [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

thanks for the review as always andy.

~td

[andyfox]

Well, to extend the tennis metaphor, different strokes for different folks I guess. I agree the movie was well done, especially given my disappointment at Allen's most recent efforts, especially his previous Melinda and Melinda.

Have you seen Crimes and Misdemeanors? Exactly the same movie with an older cast.

I thought the main character (whose performance I thought was excellent) had a certain Woodyesque quality to him. He was inept. He could barely get the rifle together, he kept dropping incriminating things on the floor. I suppose everyone expected he'd get caught because he was so ridiculously inept in planning the crime.

The fact is the guy's behavior was atrocious and he got away with it. Yes, because of luck. Wasn't Allen saying that luck is what matters, not morality?

When I saw The Usual Suspects in the theater, people applauded wildly at the end and several shouted out "Bravo!" Strange planet, huh?

[Blarg]

Well if it's Crimes and Misdemeanors all over again, it has something good going for it.

I think people complaining about the movie as if it were supposed to have both a moral and be an endorsement of that moral are obtuse. Equating it with Woody's personal relationships pushes that to absurdity.

That said, I haven't been upbeat about anything Woody has done in years. Crimes and Misdemeanors is probably the last thing I saw by him that I remember liking.